Butterflies: Season 2
by KHGiggle
Summary: The Transformers AU continues with even more bots, human interaction, Allspark shards, a drill sergeant, and Optimus kicking aft.
1. The Elite Arrive

"You know, I think this is actually easier than fixing space bridges," commented Bumblebee.

Bulkhead shrugged. "I guess so. I kind of liked working on space bridges though."

"That's because you love space bridges and how they work!" exclaimed Wheeljack. "As long as you love what you do, you never really work! That's why I became an engineer. It's like getting paid to have fun!"

"A little less fun, perhaps," suggested Prowl. "We get enough explosions as it is."

Wheeljack looked down at the cement he was mixing. The construction worker who had given him instructions had rather pointedly told him not to change the ratio. "I don't think cement can explode."

Bumblebee grinned. "But you could probably find a way to!"

Prowl groaned. "Do not encourage him. We are trying to make a good impression."

"The construction workers like us," pointed out Bulkhead.

"True." It was a small step in the right direction…Although Prowl suspected it was because a lot of their equipment wasn't working.

"How're your servos working?" asked Wheeljack.

"Fine," replied Prowl. "It looks like the water didn't cause any damage that my self-repair systems couldn't take care of."

"Ratchet wouldn't have let me leave the ship if he didn't think my servos weren't working," said Bumblebee. "And they seem okay, so the circuits must've been integrated without any problems."

"Mine's great!" added Bulkhead. "You did a really great job constructing a replacement, Wheeljack!"

And that was when a space ship flew overhead. The four stared after it.

"So, anyone know what sort of ship that was?" asked Bulkhead.

"Elite Guard," said Wheeljack. "Guess we should've expected that. Kind of wish they'd shown up before Megatron managed to get his body back."

Prowl groaned. "This could be problematic."

Park:

"Why do we suddenly have so many aliens?" muttered Fanzone. He raised his megaphone. "All right. Come out with your…" Didn't that one guy say some aliens had tentacles? "…limbs in the air."

"Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me." Fanzone turned back as the four Autobots made their way through the crowd of police, Wheeljack in the lead. He waved. "Hi Captain."

"You know who this is?" questioned Fanzone.

"Yeah, Elite Guard, they're sort of like…Marines?" guessed Wheeljack. "I haven't really paid much attention to military stuff since the war ended so I'm not sure, but they're basically the best of our military bots."

Anything else was cut off when the ship opened, revealing three bots. One was a mainly blue bot with a huge chin. One was black and white with a visor and what looked like headphones. The last was the one that caught Wheeljack's attention.

You knew it was serious when Ultra Magnus showed up.

Wheeljack quickly grabbed Prowl and Bumblebee and walked forward out of the circle of humans. Bulkhead took the hint and followed after them.

Ultra Magnus looked around for Ratchet and Flareup and frowned when he didn't see them. "Sentinel, put up the force field to prevent organic contamination."

Sentinel saluted. "Right away sir!"

The black and white one peered curiously at the humans gathered around. "You sure? I'd like to take a closer look."

"You won't be saying that when their acid slime eats through your armor," said Sentinel.

The other one recoiled. "Right, got it." A force field extended from the top of the ship to cut it off from the rest of the area.

Fanzone twitched. "This is why I hate machines."

"Sorry," muttered Bulkhead.

As it was pretty obvious what they were expected to do, they entered the ship.

A second later, they were being given a forced decontamination shower. "Do you think he recognizes us?" whispered Bulkhead.

Bumblebee shuddered. "I hope not."

Prowl gave them a questioning look at that. Wheeljack tapped the glass container. "I think we're decontaminated. I have a lot of experience with this sort of stuff what with explosions, going to high risk areas, accidentally mixing things that absolutely should not be mixed, and we should be fine by now." He paused. "Also, you look like you're enjoying this a bit too much."

"I am not!" protested Sentinel.

The unidentified bot grabbed Sentinel's servo. "SP, that's enough."

Sentinel huffed but let up on the foam. The mechs shook or brushed off the foam as they stepped out.

"I noticed that Ratchet and another member of your party are not present," stated Ultra Magnus. His optics went to Prowl. "And that you picked up a new member."

"Well, Flareup is in bad enough shape that Ratchet's refusing to leave her on her own," explained Wheeljack. "And Prowl-"

"They blew up my ship," deadpanned Prowl.

Wheeljack chuckled. "Not my fault that time. We were just gonna drop him off at the next colony when we restocked, but then…all this happened. He's just really unlucky."

Ultra Magnus nodded. That sort of thing happened sometimes. "We've come to retrieve the Allspark." He frowned when the repair bots suddenly tensed. "Is there a problem?"

"Well…" Wheeljack shrugged. "It blew up."

Silence.

"What?!" Sentinel was the one to break it. "What do you mean it blew up?!"

"It blew up," repeated Wheeljack. "And for the record, I was nowhere near it when it happened. I was helping Ratchet give Flareup emergency field treatment." He turned to Prowl.

"I was not paying attention to them. I was trying to keep the ship from crashing." That was completely true. Flying a severely damaged ship with only one functioning servo was very difficult. Prowl had tried firing at Megatron, but it had been impossible to keep his optics on him long enough.

Wheeljack nodded. "Never had to do that myself, but I imagine that would be difficult."

"You destroyed the Allspark?!" repeated Sentinel.

"Well, considering Megatron had it-"

Ultra Magnus raised an optic ridge. "Megatron?"

"Yeah, he's here…or was. Not sure where he disappeared to after the explosion." Which he did not cause. Wheeljack was quite happy about that in case you couldn't tell.

"There hasn't been any Decepticon activity since the Great War!" argued Sentinel.

Wheeljack shrugged. "Doesn't mean they're not around."

Ultra Magnus slammed his hammer onto the floor. "That is enough." He gave Wheeljack a reproachful look. "This is very serious situation. The Allspark was our main method of reproduction."

"We still have Vector Sigma and carrying," said Wheeljack. "We just have to adapt."

"It is still a heinous crime," said Ultra Magnus. "Are there any other witnesses to the destruction of the Allspark?"

Wheeljack paused. "Yes, but I don't think-"

"Take us to them."

Wheeljack shrugged. "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Sentinel saluted. "Sir, I've already taken the liberty of scanning alt modes to fit in with the local life forms."

A moment later a DeLorean, a monster truck with a snow plow, and a military vehicle with a satellite dish exited the vehicle, the latter two bumping into several cars on the way out and nearly hitting Captain Fanzone. He grit his teeth as he stood up. "This is why I hate machines!"

"I don't think I've ever seen cars like those," commented Bumblebee from up in the ship.

"Looks like we're gonna be hanging out for a while," said the unnamed bot. He held out a servo. "Name's Jazz."

Bulkhead shook it. "Like the music?"

Jazz raised an optic ridge. "Music?"

*Clang!*

Swoop jumped at the sudden noise and spun around. He frowned. "Why you Ratchet hit head?"

"Because the universe hates me." Swoop gave Ratchet a weird look like he was asking how that would work. Ratchet pushed away from the monitor he'd been looking at. "Go tell Silverbolt and your mother that someone from the Elite Guard is going to come ask them questions about Megatron and the Allspark."

Swoop nodded and dashed out. Ratchet looked at Flareup, who was still spending most of her time in recharge. He wasn't sure if he should consider her lucky or unlucky for getting to miss this.

Swoop swooped down from the ship. "Mommy!"

Sari looked up from where she was roasting an opossum. "Yeah?"

"Him Ratchet say Guard bots come to ask you and Grandpa about bad bot and spark explosion."

Sari paused. "Someone's coming to ask us about…Megatron…and the Allspark explosion?" Swoop nodded. "…Who're the Guard bots?"

"The Elite Guard," said Silverbolt. He stood up from where he'd been curled up next to the fire. "This is…important."

Sari thought for a second. "Those are the best in the military right? Name kinda gives it away."

"Yes."

Sari stared at her hands. "This could be bad for us."

Silverbolt sighed. "Yes."

"And do not piss off Grimlock. That'll piss off the rest of the Dinobots, and they will burn you with fire…or hit you with burning weapons…except for Sludge. She will punch you with burning fists, and she's a big femme," instructed Wheeljack as they made their way across the lake on a rather simple skiff/barge thing Wheeljack had managed to put together.

Ultra Magnus was staying cool. Sentinel was gaping. "You're saying a bunch of drones developed sparks and T-cogs?"

"Yeah, not bright though. Ratchet and I think it's because they don't have the general information in their processor that's downloaded before sparks are put into the frames since their sparks look fully developed."

Sentinel stared. "Why'd you expose a bunch of drones to the Allspark?"

"We didn't. We're not sure where the sparks came from, but it might have something to do with Sari. The Allspark seemed to have taken a liking to her…if that makes sense. What she was saying didn't really make sense to me, but she did manage to-Oh we're here!" Wheeljack jumped off and tied the boat to a post that Bulkhead had driven into the ground. "Okay, we're camping under and in the Orion, depending on size and how easily we can reach the ship."

Sentinel stared at the ship, which was still embedded in the mountain. "How did that happen?"

"Beats me. We originally crashed in the lake, but apparently the ship was made airborne long enough to distract Megatron before crashing into the mountain, although in Prowl's defense, those holes were already there and one of his servos wasn't working." Wheeljack set out. "Let's go!"

Sentinel stared after Wheeljack for a moment before turning to Ultra Magnus. "Is he crazy?"

"Possibly."

But he was still their guide so they followed after him to the camp site.

What they found was strange. Silverbolt was sitting cross-legged against a tree. Sari was still cooking the opossum, and Grimlock was playing guard. The other Dinobots didn't appear to be around. Grimlock growled when he saw Wheeljack with the unfamiliar mechs. Wheeljack held up his servos. "Hey, it's okay. These guys are on our side. They just wanna ask your mom and grandpa a few questions."

Grimlock continued to glare at the two strangers. He wasn't going to trust just anyone after all those other robots had shown up and hurt his family. They were going to have to prove that they meant no harm.

"Back off you malfunctioning glitch!"

Silverbolt facepalmed with a groan.

Grimlock took offense to Sentinel's statement and lunged for him. Wheeljack dove out of the way. Sentinel instinctively activated his shield. Grimlock transformed to robot mode, reached around the shield, grabbed Sentinel's servo, and flung him into a tree.

Sari was instantly up and running. "Grimlock! Don't do that!"

Ultra Magnus briefly debated helping Sentinel before deciding that he should be able to handle himself. He made his way over to Silverbolt, who was watching Sentinel and Grimlock with an odd look on his face. "You are Silverbolt?"

Silverbolt switched to Ultra Magnus. "Yes."

Ultra Magnus looked Silverbolt over. Even with his injuries, Silverbolt gave off an…aura. "I need to ask you what happened."

"I…can not…talk…lot." Talking for too long made Silverbolt's throat hurt…a lot.

"Just say what happened."

"Sari…was taken. I…followed. Megatron. I…chased him…lost him…found him…fought him. There was…ec…ex…explode? Explosion." Silverbolt coughed. He couldn't talk much longer.

"That's it? I need more information."

Silverbolt paused. How to explain with only a few words about how much he missed, how much more he noticed and how he still didn't understand how he'd managed to survive for so long. He didn't think he could explain even if he was given all the time and words in the world. He gestured towards his neck and made a choking motion.

Ultra Magnus seemed to understand to some extent. He frowned. "But you can't say for sure if it was Megatron?"

Silverbolt thought. "Never seen him." He'd seen pictures, but that didn't mean anything. Transformers changed their appearance regularly, especially when they were completely reconstructed from near deactivation. And a picture didn't show how someone moved, how they acted, how they smelled, how they spoke. Silverbolt opened his mouth to explain that…and coughed up blood.

Well, he wasn't going to be saying anything for the rest of the day.

Ultra Magnus seemed to understand and backed off. That or he was freaked out by the blood. It was hard to tell with him. "I believe I will talk to 'Sorry' now."

Silverbolt growled, somehow able to tell that Ultra Magnus got her name wrong. Then he coughed up more blood.

Ultra Magnus made his way over to Sari, who was sitting on Grimlock's head. Grimlock was in beast mode and had Sentinel in his mouth. Sentinel was predicably not pleased. "Put me down you demented turbolizard!"

"Stop antagonizing him!" demanded Sari

"You shut up!" shouted Sentinel.

"You're making it worse!" Sari whapped Grimlock on the snout. "Drop him! Drop him or no snuggles!"

"Snuggles?!" screeched Sentinel. "What sort of snuggles?!"

"What do you mean 'What sort of snuggles?' Snuggles are snuggles!"

"I need to talk to 'Sorry'," interrupted Ultra Magnus.

"It's S-A-R-I," said Sari, also somehow able tell he got her name wrong. "What-No chewing!" shouted Sari as Sentinel started making pained sounds

Ultra Magnus continued without missing a beat. "So far, all the witnesses have said you were kidnapped by Decepticons-"

"Actually, I got abducted by a human who was holding a little girl hostage and threatening to kill her," corrected Sari. "He did take me to a bunch of Decepticons. They had those pointy, purple face symbols on them."

Ultra Magnus frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would an organic help a Decepticon?"

Sari shrugged. "How should I know? I'm not a mind reader! Grimlock, if you do not drop him right now, I swear I will-" Grimlock abruptly dropped Sentinel.

Sentinel scrambled backwards before standing up. "You-You-I ought to arrest you!"

"Grimlock was born on Earth, and you have no authority here," deadpanned Sari.

Ultra Magnus drew on his stores of patience. "And why did the Decepticons want you?"

"Uh, well they stuck a cable into me and the big gray head, and…" Sari trailed off. "Anyway, they did something with me so that he got his body back."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," said Sentinel.

Sari shrugged. "You asked. If you don't believe me, that's your problem."

"Do you know what happened to the Allspark?" asked Ultra Magnus.

"It blew up."

"We already knew that," muttered Sentinel.

"After I stabbed it," finished Sari.

Awkward silence. "Why would you stab the Allspark?!" shouted Sentinel.

"Well, I didn't realize what it was at the time, also it…was…uh, how to put this? Something was pushing me to destroy it because it needed to be destroyed?" Sari frowned and shook her head. "No, that doesn't sound right. It didn't need to be destroyed. Uh, it wanted to be destroyed? Can it want stuff?"

"I think that's enough for now," said Ultra Magnus. This was becoming confusing. "Where can I find Ratchet?"

Sari jerked her thumb behind her. "He's in the ship with Swoop and Flareup."

Ultra Magnus sent a quick message to the ship's computer. A moment later, Ratchet was flown down by Swoop. Ultra Magnus gave Swoop a suspicious look before turning to Ratchet. "What exactly happened here?"

"…You may want to take a seat. This could take a while."

Down Below:

"Why am I still here?" muttered Hector. "He's got his body back, he's got troops, and I really doubt he needs me for reconnaissance."

The human was ignored.

"Whoever tore Spittor up sure was messy about it," commented Oil Slick. He'd finally repaired himself enough to start on Spittor's repairs. "I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to reattach his limbs…"

"You managed to repair yourself," said Strika. "It can't be that different."

"I'm a chemist, not a medic. I just picked up a few things from Scalpel. Anyway, the only really serious damage was my energon lines, which isn't too difficult to repair. Reattaching a couple of limbs may be out of my skill range. Any chance I can contact Scalpel?"

"No," said Megatron. "One of our sources reported a ship that matches the description of an Elite Guard vessel. It would be best if we do not alert them to our presence. That way they won't send any reinforcements. They may even evacuate the Autobots already here."

Icy Blitzwing nodded. "It may be for the best. Some of us are still recovering from the injuries we sustained in the battle for the Allspark."

Strika made an annoyed sound, partly because she was uninjured and partly because she hadn't actually gotten to fight due to how long it had taken her to make her way to everyone. She glanced at Cyclonus, the only other one who had gotten away uninjured.

"Our injuries are not so severe that we cannot serve you!" declared Lugnut. His right servo promptly fell off.

Strika sighed and facepalmed. "Dear, remember what I said about pushing yourself beyond all reason?"

While Strika lectured Lugnut on trying to fight when his parts were falling off, Blitzwing switched to Random and started miming Strika's gestures next to Cyclonus, seemingly in an attempt to get a reaction from the stoic mech.

So far, it wasn't working.

What passed for normal was interrupted by several gunshots. The Cons immediately turned towards the source, weapons drawn. It was Hector. He started when he realized what it looked like. "The drone malfunctioned and attacked me!" he explained.

Hector had found a still functioning drone and had brought it down. It had initially seemed like a good idea, but now it looked like it was gonna get him shot.

Megatron frowned as he noticed something unusual about the drone. He picked it up and sifted through the parts until he found an object that definitely shouldn't be there. It was very small, but he recognized the substance and energy signature. "It's part of the Allspark."

"Wasn't that destroyed?" asked Oil Slick.

Megatron thought for a moment. He hadn't actually seen what happened, but as there hadn't been a trace of the Allspark when the light faded and he'd recovered, he'd assumed it had been destroyed. Apparently, he'd been wrong. "It must have only been shattered instead of disintegrated like we assumed." He dropped the remains of the drone. "The explosion likely scattered the fragments throughout the city, if not farther. It's likely they will supercharge any machinery they come into contact with, causing it to behave erratically like this drone."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it has additional effects," said Oil Slick. "It does produce an unlimited amount of sparks and energy. If each shard isn't capable of the same thing, they will at least be capable of producing a lesser amount."

Blitzwing switched to Icy. "Will the shape affect how the energy is discharged?"

Oil Slick shrugged. "Don't know. The Allspark's always been one shape."

Megatron gave the shard a long, considering look. Perhaps he should not attempt to put any of the shards in his spark until after they determined how the individual shards would behave. "Oil Slick, build a container for this shard and any others we will recover. The Allspark may not be as lost as we initially assumed."

As Megatron gave this order, one of the factories up in Detroit shuddered to life.

Sari jumped as an odd feeling suddenly flared in the back of her head. It felt oddly similar to what she felt during the Megatron debacle. Where had that come from?

"…We found the casing for the Allspark, but the Allspark itself was gone. Considering the circumstances, it was probably destroyed. Flareup's still recovering and an organic medic assisted in repairing Silverbolt." Ratchet wondered if Ultra Magnus would believe the crazy story.

"You actually expect us to believe that bucket of slag?" It was obvious Sentinel didn't.

"We have not picked up any Decepticon signals," said Ultra Magnus. "In addition your explanation for the Allspark's disappearance is rather…outlandish."

"Would I make up something that ridiculous?" deadpanned Ratchet.

Sari sidled over to Wheeljack. "Would you mind taking me to the mainland?"

Wheeljack looked at her in surprise. "What brought this on?"

"Uh, there's something telling me to go to the mainland."

"Is it telling you why?" Sari shook her head. "…Well, I don't see any reason why I can't."

Grimlock stomped over. "Me Grimlock go too."

Wheeljack winced. "I don't think that's a good-"

"Me Grimlock go!" roared Grimlock.

"Okay, okay!" Sometimes it was easier to just go along with the Dinobots.

Somehow, by the time they'd reached the raft, the other Dinobots had joined them. After some corralling, the Dinobots were all safely on the boat, and Wheeljack was steering them towards the mainland.

Elite Guard ship:

"Sorry I took so long," said Jazz. "Ultra Magnus gets upset if we don't keep track of everything that we move around, energon included. Kind of slows down everyday life." He handed a cube to Bumblebee and Bulkhead. He tried to hand one to Prowl, but Prowl didn't move to take it. Jazz frowned but shrugged and put the cube next to him. "So, how long have you been on this planet?"

"A few months," said Bulkhead.

"Plus those 58 stellar cycles we were in stasis," added Bumblebee.

"Do those count?"

"Sure, we were on this planet. We just weren't aware of anything."

"Wow, how did you survive that long?" asked Jazz. Bumblebee and Bulkhead gave him confused looks. "Sentinel says that organics shoot acid slime that can melt through our armor."

Bumblebee and Bulkhead gave him a shocked look before bursting into laughter. Jazz recoiled a bit. "What? What's so funny?"

"Acid slime?" asked Bumblebee. "Really? Where'd he get that from?"

Jazz blinked. "They…don't have acid slime?"

Bulkhead shook his head. "Nope. Must are harmless. They're just so small."

"Prowl, you're the expert. You tell him," said Bumblebee. Prowl didn't move. Bumblebee frowned. "Prowl?"

"Is it his glitch?" asked Bulkhead.

"Glitch?" Jazz tensed up. Glitches could be dangerous depending on what caused them and what they did. "What sort of glitch?"

"He just does…" Bumblebee gestured at Prowl. "That. I think it happens 'cause he gets bored, but Ratchet says that's ridiculous"

"It is kind of weird though," muttered Bulkhead.

Jazz waved a servo in front of Prowl's optics. "Weird how?"

"He didn't do this before we crashed," explained Bulkhead.

"It's acquired?" Jazz clapped his servos in front of Prowl. "Any idea what brought this on?"

"Well, he was pretty beat up when he was put into stasis," said Bumblebee. "It was…bad."

"How do we fix him?"

"Ratchet usually just hits him," said Bulkhead.

Jazz lightly slapped Prowl on the back of his helm. Prowl jerked, realized that everyone was in a different position and staring at him, and groaned. "Again?"

"You really should get that fixed," said Jazz.

"Yes, I know." Prowl did not like being unaware of his surroundings. That was one of the most basic aspects of being a ninja! "Did you need something?"

"Jazz thinks organics shoot acid slime," grinned Bumblebee.

Prowl snorted. "That's ridiculous. True, some species secrete toxic mucus, but it's only harmful to other organics, and it's mainly a defense mechanism to keep from being eaten."

"So…no acid slime?"

Prowl shook his head. "No, I'd imagine it would harm the organism that produces it as well. Besides, Sari and Silverbolt wouldn't have survived for so long if organic and mechanical life forms weren't capable of coexisting."

"Who're Sari and Silverbolt?" asked Jazz.

Factory:

"Did you know this was going on?" asked Wheeljack, staring at the scene in front of him.

Sari was also staring. "I honestly had no idea."

Robots were pouring out of the factory and attacking anything, including each other. The police force had shown up, but there wasn't much they could do in the way of damage control currently.

"This is why I hate machines!"

Sari and Wheeljack's attention went to Capt. Fanzone. "Uh, did someone figure out how to fix the drones?" asked Wheeljack.

"No!" shouted Fanzone. "It just started up on its own! Do you know how hard it is to deal with malfunctioning robots that have guns and Tasers?"

Sari frowned. She needed to get in the factory. She didn't know why, but she needed to. "Want us to deal with them? The Dinobots are itching for a fight."

Fanzone gave the Dinobots a dubious look. They did look like they were about to jump the robots. "Those bots are liable to destroy the whole building!"

Sari jerked her thumb towards Wheeljack. "So's Wheeljack."

"Hey!"

One of the robots overturned a police cruiser. Fanzone twitched. "Fine! Just get them to stop!"

Sari grinned. "You heard him boys!"

Elite Guard ship:

"So, they're organic and mechanical?" Prowl nodded. Jazz tried to picture what such beings would have to look like and got a rather scary image. "It's kind of a creepy picture."

"I personally find them fascinating," said Prowl.

"But you've been avoiding Sari," said Bulkhead. Prowl gave him a look while Bumblebee snickered.

"_Hi everyone. This is Wheeljack. There's a factory that's started up on its own and is producing malfunctioning drones of the attack variety. I'm gonna go in and see if I can fix it while the Dinobots deal with the drones. Sari said I should let you know."_

Prowl, familiar with the damage the Dinobots could cause, shot up and ran for the exit of the ship.

Jazz intercepted him, bringing his servos up. "Whoa now! I can't just let you leave!"

Prowl tried to get around him, but Jazz continued to block him. "You do not know the Dinobots like I do! They will need some sort of supervision if they are going to be in a fight!"

"But Wheeljack and Sari are there," pointed out Bulkhead.

Prowl shook his head. "They aren't the most responsible role models in that regard."

Bulkhead winced. "Good point."

"Can't you just go with him?" asked Bumblebee.

Jazz thought for a moment. "Yeah, that could work."

Ratchet's response to Wheeljack's com was to curse violently. Ultra Magnus was already running for the shore. Sentinel was running after Ultra Magnus, although he didn't understand why his commander was running like that. Silverbolt just rolled his eyes and grabbed the opossum that Sari had been cooking. He was getting hungry, and it would be a waste to let it burn.

"That was some funky light show," commented Jazz

"You mean the traffic lights?" asked Bumblebee.

"Traffic lights, huh? Solid…Whoa!" Jazz's exclamation was brought on by the sight of the Dinobots trashing any drone that got near them. "Those are the Dinobots?"

Prowl transformed and jumped into the fray. "Slag! Do not throw the drones into the walls!"

Jazz barely had time to blink as Bumblebee and Bulkhead jumped in to help Prowl and/or the Dinobots. Jazz paused. "Is that circuit-su? You know circuit-su?" Jazz jumped in to help out and observe Prowl's moves some more.

Wheeljack was inside the factory. He would've tried to shut down the factory, but he had to avoid the drones that went after him. He didn't think using grenades in such a small building would be a good idea. At least Sari was helping by blasting and slicing the drones. "Why did you come in here again?" he asked.

"I needed to be in here!"

"Why do you need to be in here?"

"I don't know! I just do!"

Wheeljack groaned. "You're going to need a better reason than that! I can already tell that Ultra Magnus thinks there's something wrong with you!"

"So do most civilized humans!" countered Sari. She absentmindedly cut through a nearby drone. "Let's face it! Most of the people in our groups could be considered crazy!"

"I personally think Bulkhead's more of a savant," argued Wheeljack.

"Why are we talking about this?!"

"I don't know!"

Sari suddenly pointed to the right. "What's up with that control console?!"

Wheeljack zoomed in at the console. "It has a hole in it! Not a big deal!"

Sari vaulted over to the panel. There was a tugging sensation coming from the panel. Sari stuck her hands into the hole and ripped the console open.

There was something in it that was glowing. Sari reached in and yanked it out.

Immediately, the factory and drones shut down. Sari glanced at the small piece of matter that had apparently caused this mess before turning to Wheeljack. "Do you know what this is?"

Wheeljack's optics bugged out as he knelt down to get a closer look at the shard. "That…That looks like the Allspark!"

Outside, Ultra Magnus and Sentinel had pulled up just in time to see the drones deactivate.

Fanzone walked over. "Hey! Are you the bots that rammed into my police cruisers earlier? Do you know how much it costs to repair those?!"

"Silence organ-gah!" Sentinel's response was cut off as Grimlock, who was still riding the battle high, jumped him.

"Grimlock!" Prowl was instantly there, swatting Grimlock's head. "We do not attack allies! Let him go!"

Grimlock decided to be difficult. Fortunately, Sentinel had a free servo that he used to punch Grimlock in the snout and jumped back when Grimlock reflexively opened his mouth. "Why do you keep trying to eat me?!"

"Me Grimlock not like you."

Prowl groaned. "You don't attack someone just because you don't like them…"

Prowl proceeded to ignore the two Elite Guard bots as he tried to instill this knowledge into Grimlock. Fortunately, Jazz was there to prevent any sort of misunderstanding. "I think these Dinobots think like sparklings…They'd be cute if they weren't so big…and breathed fire…and enjoyed fighting."

Ultra Magnus thought a minute. Well, sparklings did tend to speak their mind and have bad grammar…However, there was another problem. "What are you doing here?"

"Prowler insisted that we needed to come down here to keep the Dinobots from causing too much damage," explained Jazz. He turned to look at the factory. There were a couple of holes, but nothing too serious. "Looks stable to me."

"…Is Wheeljack still inside?" asked Ultra Magnus. He wasn't going to consider the building stable while Wheeljack was inside.

Fortunately, Wheeljack ran out right about then with Sari riding his shoulder. "Look what Sari found!" He held his right servo out, the small shard sitting in the center of it.

Ultra Magnus stared before carefully picking up the shard. It was so small. He was afraid he might accidentally crush it between his two digits.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Bumblebee.

"It appears to be a shard of the Allspark," admitted Ultra Magnus.

Sentinel frowned. "So they did destroy the Allspark."

"No," corrected Ultra Magnus. "This still appears to be functional. It's likely it was just split into an unknown number of pieces. It may be possible to repair it."

"That doesn't change the fact that they _tried_ to destroy the Allspark!" argued Sentinel.

Sari raised an arm. "Actually, that was just me, and I didn't realize what it was at the time. I just thought it was some sort of super power up thing."

Ultra Magnus frowned. She had admitted earlier that she was the one stabbed the Allspark and likely caused it to shatter. He didn't understand how that would cause the Allspark to shatter though. That wasn't all that was bothering him. "How did you find this?"

"Uh, it pulled me to it," explained Sari with a shrug. "I don't know how else to describe it."

Ultra Magnus thought for a moment. "I believe this may require more observation," he decided. "Perhaps it would be best to stay on this planet for a short amount of time until we can find some hard evidence to support or dispute the claims we've heard up to this point."

"You mean we have to stay on this screw loose planet?!"

Dinobot Island:

"_Seriously, why is my entire body suddenly itchy? It's really annoying."_

Ratchet grit his denta. He was stuck on the ground while Flareup was complaining about her sudden itchiness up in the Orion, and he couldn't do a thing because Swoop had run off with the other Dinobots.

He was going to give that bot a talking to when he got back.

_And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword._

"So now you're calling it 'The Afterword'?"

KHGiggle shrugged. "We didn't get a lot of questions to answer." She paused. "Although we did get a review with several questions about what would happen in this season from smartcat9. Ironic really."

Vector pulled out a list. He looked it over with a frown. "Some of these can't be answered without spoilers."

KHGiggle shrugged. "Let me take a look at them." Vector shrunk the list and handed it to her. She read a few. "I think we can answer a few of them. First, and I'm paraphrasing: What is up with Bumblebee's circuitry? Is he some kind of faction hybrid?"

"Bumblebee is a fully mechanical Cybertronian," said Vector.

"Why did you mention Ratchet being a parent?"

"Because he is a parent," answered Vector.

"Does Prowl find out what his glitch is in the next season?"

"He'll find out something about it."

"Will Optimus be on the Elite Team when they visit?"

"Oh yes, I wondered when someone was going to ask about Optimus Prime," commented Vector. "He's not in the Elite Guard, sad to say, but rest assured, he has an important role to play in this season."

KHGiggle snickered. "Who was Flareup's instructor whose house she blew up and why did she do it?"

"That is a canon event," said Vector. "Look up her bio on tfwiki. I believe the poor bot's name was Autosanrin."

"And…I don't think we can answer these two without giving something away," finished KHGiggle. "Sorry smartcat9."

Vector glanced at the list. "Those two questions will be answered this season though. So long as nothing happens to disrupt the schedule, you will have the answer to your questions relatively soon."

"And that's all for now! We hope you stay with us for the whole season!" said KHGiggle, waving at the audience.

_This has been The Afterword._


	2. Scientific Progress

Sentinel Prime was brought out of his recharge by a loud noise. He rolled into a fighting position before realizing that nothing appeared to be attacking him. He cautiously made his way to the source of the noise, which turned out to be the bridge.

Sentinel jumped out, ready to fight…and saw Jazz dancing. He stared for a second. "What are you doing?"

"Listening to music."

"That's music? I thought it was some sort of dying animal…"

"No, it's a type of music that humans came up with." Jazz grinned "I like it."

Sentinel made a face. "A type? As in more than one?"

"Yeah, there's Rock, Pop, Country, Jazz-"

"Why'd you say your name?"

"I didn't. That's one of the types of music. It's my favorite!"

Sentinel wondered what the chances of Jazz sharing his name with an alien music genre was before deciding he didn't care. "Well, turn it down. It's giving me a processor ache."

Jazz pouted before turning down the volume. "I'll have to download some more later. I know a mech who'd love these tunes."

Sentinel made a face. That was just what he needed, more bots playing this noise.

That was when Ultra Magnus walked in. "Still listening to music?"

Jazz nodded. "Yep."

"I need to see if the council has responded to the information I sent them previously."

Jazz paused the music and moved aside so that Ultra Magnus could check the messages. Usually they communicated by videophone, but the distance was enough that quite a bit of lag would have been generated and Ultra Magnus wanted to send a few files as well so he had sent a general data packet.

Ultra Magnus went through the responses. "Perceptor requests that we get some more information on the techno-organics and Dinobots. Alpha Trion requests that we leave the Allspark shards on Earth until we can completely reassemble the Allspark or he can determine if the shards can be safely separated by long distances. Also, he wants us to perform a few tests on Sari. Botanica wants us to bring back a sample of Earth culture."

"I'll give her a copy of the music file too," said Jazz.

Sentinel made a face. "Maybe we should find something else."

"We'll worry about that later," said Ultra Magnus, heading for the exit. "I'll leave it to you two. Someone called 'The President' wished to meet with me. He appears to be some sort of leader, so I thought I would give him the courtesy."

Sentinel grimaced. "Does that mean we have to deal with those lizardy bots again?"

Jazz gave him a weird look. "Lizardy?"

"Their alt modes look like lizards," explained Sentinel. "Anyway, the one with sharp denta keeps trying to eat me!"

Jazz shrugged as he grabbed a few datapads and a camera. "Maybe you should try being more polite. Get what you give and all that. I'm hoping I can talk to Prowl about his cyber ninja skills. He's got training, but it seems…off."

"You do that," said Sentinel. "Personally, I've had enough of this planet. If I ever have to come back here, it'll be too soon."

Down below:

"You want me to do what?!"

Megatron narrowed his optics. "Do not make me repeat myself."

Hector backpedaled. "It's just…why would you need human scientists? You're a super advanded robotic race. I'd imagine most of you are smarter than even the most intelligent human scientists."

Megatron pulled up some schematics on his computer. "Before I was forced out of the Autobot ship, I was able to download schematics for their space bridges." An image of a space bridge appeared on top of the schematics, but parts were missing. "Unfortunately, the download was incomplete, and we do not have any engineers available. I have ordered my double agent to search for an expert on space bridge technology who can complete the schematics. Until then, human scientists should suffice. They've been reverse engineering Cybertronian technology for stellar cycles. I'm sure this won't be much of a leap."

"That was mostly Isaac Sumdac," pointed out Hector. "The man was a genius. He might've been able to pull this off, but he's gone, and the other scientsists just aren't up to his standards."

Megatron nodded in agreement. While he despised Isaac Sumdac for various reasons, he had to admit the man had been a master of reverse engineering. Perhaps he'd been too hasty in killing him. Oh well, no time for regrets. "Be that as it may, they would have other uses."

The two looked towards the back where Oil Slick was still trying to reattach Spittor's stabilizing servos. "I'm starting to think I'm missing a few parts," admitted Oil Slick.

"Why don't you guys have a medic?" asked Hector. "It seems pretty…" Arrogant, self-assured, overconfident. "Irresponsible."

Megatron narrowed his optics. "Decepticons are war machines."

Hector caught the threatening undertone. "Look, kidnapping is never an easy thing to pull off. There are cameras everywhere, and most of those are still functioning, especially the ones in Sumdac Systems. It is very difficult to find people with all the qualifications to work on robotic engineering and programming, so security is one thing that Powell never cuts corners on."

"You'll have help from Soundwave," said Megatron.

Oil Slick looked up. "Soundwave? Who's Soundwave?"

"As the Dinobots were given life by the excess Allspark energy in the Guardian, so was Soundwave," explained Megatron. "The difference is that Soundwave is as intelligent as any adult framed mech and came into contact with me before anyone else so that I was able to sway him to our cause."

Oil Slick frowned. "Then why didn't I see him during the battle?"

"Soundwave was originally a robot toy for children," explained Hector. "He's small enough for a child to carry around."

Oil Slick smothered his laughter with a snort. "No wonder he doesn't want to be seen."

"Despite his…handicap, Soundwave is skilled at surveillance and hacking. He has done some experimenting and discovered how to cut the camera feed and replace it with stock footage to keep any humans from noticing anything is amiss."

"How do I get them here without anyone noticing?" asked Hector.

"Laserbeak will deliver them."

It took Hector a moment to remember that Laserbeak was the bird that had flown Nancy away from the tower. Well, he(?) certainly appeared strong enough to carry an adult. "Right, do I have something I can use to communicate with him?"

"Your phone."

"…Right. He's a hacker. That makes sense."

Detroit Docks:

"Why are we just standing around on this deathtrap?" asked Sentinel.

Wheeljack scoffed. "This boat is not a deathtrap! I modified it myself!" That wouldn't inspire a lot of confidence in others. "And we're waiting for our organic medicine consult. Remember? We mentioned him before when Ratchet explained that he needed help tending to Silverbolt since he didn't know how to set bones or treat wings."

"So Silverbolt can fly like Swoop?" asked Jazz. That was cool.

Wheeljack hummed. "Sort of. Neither can fly in their bipedal mode, so whatever method they use is different from what the typical Decepticon uses. Still, it's nice to have someone who can fly on our side."

"How do you know they're on our side?" asked Sentinel

"Well, Silverbolt attacked Starscream and ripped off his servo with his denta, held off Lugnut and Blitzwing while I made a bomb, tore off the stabilizing servos of a Decepticon we have yet to identify, and fought Megatron with the intent to kill. Swoop, along with the other Dinobots, consider Sari their carrier, Silverbolt their grandsire, and Prowl their sire, helped Silverbolt with holding off Lugnut and Blitzwing while I made a bomb, and helped fight the Decepticons when they attacked Detroit, which is probably why we're still functioning by the way. Do you want me to get into the reasons for why I consider Sari to be on 'our side' as well?"

"Uh…"

Jazz seemed to have zeroed in on one detail in particular. "So if the Dinobots consider Sari their carrier and Prowl their sire…Is there a reason for that or are the two courting?"

Wheeljack blinked as Sentinel got a horrified look on his face and started gagging. "You know…I don't think that ever occurred to anyone, those two included. They just started considering Prowl their sire when he started bringing them energon and trying to teach them stuff like staying silent and fighting stances. He was the only one in our group who knew about them for a while actually. Anyway, Prowl and Sari appear to be having some sort of disagreement right now so, no, they are not in a relationship. I'm not sure how that would work with the size difference."

"The size difference?!" shouted Sentinel, who had finally repressed his urge to purge. "What about the fact that she's all squishy and…and…wears dead things?"

"I don't think she's creepy," said Wheeljack. "Although, she and Silverbolt don't have the ability to open their spark chambers like a completely mechanical transformer. Ratchet thinks that if someone were to cut through their outer layer the chambers could open on their own, since they appear to be normal spark chambers from what he's picked up in the scans. It would make certain activities pretty difficult though." And now Sentinel was gagging again. What a prude. Wheeljack turned his full attention to Jazz. "So, what brings you guys to the island again? And where's Ultra Magnus?"

"Ultra Magnus said something about a meeting with a human leader. Maybe he can get you some new digs." Jazz admitted the island was nice, but having to climb or be flown up to your base was inconvenient. "And Sentinel and I are here because Perceptor and Alpha Trion wanted us to get some information and perform some tests on Silverbolt, Sari, and the Dinobots. We might split up for those two things."

Wheeljack was oddly silent for a moment. "Right, Perceptor would be interested in this kind of stuff."

That was when Dr. Darby rode up on a rather old motorcycle. He jumped off, took a bag out of a side compartment, locked his helmet to the bike, and locked the motorcycle to a light post. He jumped onto the boat, glancing at the other bots he didn't recognize. "Sorry I'm late. Traffic was horrible."

Wheeljack nodded and started up the boat motor. "Okay, time to go."

Sumdac Systems:

Hector paused as he looked into Henry Masterson's personal lab. Most of the scientists didn't have private labs, but Masterson came up with all sorts of military ideas and made Powell more money than any other employee. Hector took out his phone. Sure enough, there was a text from Soundwave informing him that the cameras in the area had been hacked and put on a loop.

Hector took a deep breath and walked into the lab. Masterson was muttering under his breath as he put together a circuit board from scratch. He might actually find a way to fix the problem with the drones if he was left to his own devices. Still, considering the man's personality, Hector couldn't say he was going to feel bad about what he was about to do.

Hector walked up, took out his gun, and pistol whipped Masterson on the back of his head. Masterson crumpled. Hector picked him up with a grunt. Maybe he should find a lighter scientist for the next abduction.

Hector opened the closest window. After a moment, Laserbeak flew in. It took some maneuvering, but Hector got Masterson out of the window with Laserbeak gripping his shoulders.

Hector couldn't help but sigh as the robotic bird flew off. There was truly no turning back now.

Dinobot Island:

"-And Ratchet keeps complaining that I'm liable to blow the island up, but I don't think I'd blow the island up. Maybe a small section, but not the whole island."

"Why do you keep making things explode?" asked Sentinel, tired of hearing Wheeljack talk about experiments Ratchet refused to let him perform.

"Some of it is due to carelessness. I will admit that. Some of it makes no sense though. I cannot figure out how I managed to make that paint explode just by touching it."

"I'm starting to see why Ultra Magnus was so worried when he found out you were in that factory," muttered Jazz.

"…I have made a factory explode before," admitted Wheeljack.

Jack moved away from Wheeljack. "How often do you make things explode?"

"It depends." Wheeljack waved as the clearing came into view. "Hi guys!"

Bumblebee shot up from where he was lying on the ground. Bulkhead was doodling something in the ground, Sari appeared to be telling a story to the Dinobots sans Swoop, and Prowl was talking with Silverbolt about something. Everyone looked towards Wheeljack when he shouted his hello. "Finally!" shouted Bumblebee. "Please tell me you have something we can do!" Bumblebee was very bored.

"…Maybe."

Jack had already gone over to Silverbolt. "Well, it looks like the sutures are ready to come out. I'll go ahead and get started on that while we wait for Ratchet."

It took a couple of minutes since Ratchet had to have Swoop fly him down. He raised an optic ridge. "Where's Ultra Magnus?"

"He's got a meeting so I'm in charge," said Sentinel. "And he said to perform some tests."

Silverbolt narrowed his eyes. "Tests?"

"Mainly pictures and readings of y'all," explained Jazz, using some slang he'd picked up. "The tests are for Sari, and they're from Alpha Trion. It sounds like he just wants her to wander around and look for more shards of the Allspark."

Silverbolt still looked suspicious, but decided to drop the matter for the moment as Ratchet scanned him again so the two doctors could see if his casts could come off.

"I can't look for shards here," muttered Sari. "That means we'll have to leave the island."

"Okay, so who's going with me and Sari?" asked Wheeljack.

"Me!" shouted Bumblebee. "It's boring here!"

"I'd better stay here to make sure the Dinobots behave," said Prowl.

Sentinel looked at the Dinobots and realized Grimlock was eyeing him. "I'll go with the Allspark group."

Jazz grinned. "Which means I'm staying here."

The two groups split up. Jazz walked over to Silverbolt's examination. "So, how're you feeling?"

"Fine…Hungry…"

"You're always hungry," muttered Ratchet.

Silverbolt shrugged before turning to Jazz. "I cannot eat energon."

Jazz made a quick note on a datapad. "What do you survive off of then?"

"Meat."

Jazz paused before shrugging. Not like there were any Transformers made of meat…except for Silverbolt and Sari.

"His bones are still healing," said Jack. "We'll have to leave the casts on a bit longer. I don't see anything else to worry about, but it's kind of hard to tell with him."

"No kidding." Ratchet shut off the scanner.

"Can I have the scans you've made of Silverbolt and the Dinobots?" asked Jazz. "That oughta cover most of the stuff Perceptor wants. Maybe get a scan of Bolt in his alt mode when he's healed."

"That could take a while," deadpanned Ratchet.

Sumdac Systems:

Hector paused as his phone suddenly vibrated. He pulled it out to look at the message. He glanced into the room it indicated and had to resist the urge to face palm.

There were two 'child genii' in Sumdac Systems: Penelope Sutton and Rafael Esquivel. They were in the break room.

Penelope was rather infamous due to causing a lot of property damage when she was younger. She always insisted that she was simply trying to get rid of corrupting influences and that she was not a criminal. Her record had said otherwise before she accepted Powell' contract and had it erased.

Rafael was more normal besides the fact that he was 17 and working at Sumdac Systems as a programmer. Really, the strangest thing about him was his hair, which Hector swore defied gravity.

Despite being around the same age, the two did not get along and tended to argue whenever they were in the same room together. Today they were arguing about Decepticons and Autobots.

"They fought a war in the middle of the city! Tell me that doesn't make them dangerous, I dare you."

"Several of them have admitted to living in the lake for several months beforehand. The fight was unavoidable from what I was able to understand. Something about a kidnapping."

"That doesn't change the fact that they decided to come here in the first place!"

"Their ship crashed! After they went through some kind of warp hole! They didn't want to come here!"

"If it was an accident, then why didn't they say anything?"

"You know how when scientists try to avoid disturbing the natural environment of the animals they study? I think it's like that. We're still underdeveloped compared to them, and they didn't want to affect our development."

"Then why did they attack us?"

"That was a different faction!"

"How can there be factions? They're robots!"

"Robots can be good and bad!"

"No they can't! They're robots! They only do what they're programmed to do, and the laws of robotics prevent them from hurting each other!"

"That's our robots. It might be different on other planets. Plus, just because they're robots doesn't mean they're not self-aware. With the way our technology is going-"

Rafael was cut off when Hector pistol whipped Penelope, knocking her out. The other teenager immediately shot out of his seat, a yell on the tip of his tongue, but Hector rushed him and wrapped his arm around the boy's throat, cutting off both his oxygen and blood. Rafael was unconscious within seconds.

Hector calmly locked the door and opened the window for Laserbeak. This one would take longer.

The Streets of Detroit:

"This is so gross," complained Sari.

"How is this gross?" asked Wheeljack. "We're just driving around Detroit. You even have temperature control."

"Yeah…But I'm inside your body! That's gross! How do you not find this gross?"

"I just don't get why it's gross. I mean, one of the uses of our vehicle modes is to transport various materials. I use mine to transport chemicals and materials that I needed for experiments. Compared to some of those items, you're much more pleasant."

"Well, how would you like to be inside the body of something that's alive?" countered Sari.

"That actually happened before," admitted Wheeljack. Sari gave him a shocked look. "That's a story for another day. Anyway, I'm kind of surprised you feel so strongly about this. Most humans would love the idea of getting to ride around in a cool transforming robot."

Sari snorted. "I'm a cool transforming robot, remember? Plus I was raised by Bolt so it's not like I don't have experience with the normal sized ones."

"Actually, he's pretty big for an Autobot," commented Wheeljack. "…He is an Autobot, right?"

Sari thought for a moment. "I think so. He talked about wanting to join the Elite Guard when he told me stories about when he was young."

"Yeah, he's an Autobot. So, you picking up any shard signals yet?"

Sari shook her head. "I don't even know how I picked it up the last time. It was like it tugged me towards it. I'm not sure how I would do it on purpose."

"You never know until you try!"

Sari sighed and tried feeling for anything that felt like the Allspark. She had never searched for it; it was more like it had searched for her, if that made any sense. It hadn't occurred to her that it could work the other way around. Maybe it was like those bonds her dad had talked about before? Sari tried reaching out, sending a desire to reunite the pieces.

She was shocked when she felt an answering feeling from another source. "I got something! Go left!"

"Got it!"

"Left. Right. Straight. Straight. Right. Straight. Right. Left. Stop!" Sari darted out as soon as Wheeljack stopped. He transformed, along with the other two.

Sentinel eyed where they'd stopped with distaste. "What is this? Some sort of graveyard?"

"Nah," said Bumblebee. "This is the junkyard Wheeljack scavenges at."

Wheeljack nodded. "I've found some useful stuff here. Also some gross stuff, like used diapers, some dead rats, moldy foods, or what used to be foods."

Sentinel grimaced. "I'll wait out here.

Wheeljack suddenly started. "Ah! Don't do that!"

Sari had run into the junkyard and started digging through a seemingly random pile of junk. By the time Wheeljack had made it to her, Sari had straightened with an odd look on her face. She held out her hand, which had a small shard resting on the center of her palm. "I guess it does work both ways."

Sumdac Systems:

"Hector!"

Hector fought the urge to jump as he turned to see Dr. White. "Oh, Robert. What can I do for you?"

"Rad has been going on about the Autobots. Has Carlos been doing the same? You know this is the sort of thing boys seem to love. I'll have to see if I can get an autograph for him or something if they ever come here again."

"Yeah, Carlos is interested in them too." Hector didn't appreciate the irony. "He wants to go skateboarding with them."

Robert chuckled. "Now, there's an interesting image. Some of them do seem to have the coordination, but some just don't seem like the type. One has a 'grumpy old man' vibe so I'd imagine that he'd hate it, and the green one doesn't seem like he'd do so well with the shape of his body. The yellow one sort of acts like a kid so I think he'd be interested in trying at least."

"Why are we talking about how much alien robots would enjoy skateboarding?"

Robert paused and laughed. "I guess it's just one of those conversations."

Hector's phone suddenly went off. "Hold on. I have to take this." Hector's eyes widened when he read the message.

'Camera: On loop.'

Carlos was going to hate him if he ever found out about this. "Robert…I would just like to make it clear how sorry I am about this."

"Huh?"

And then Robert White was punched in the face and knocked out.

Dinobot Island:

"So, where'd you learn cyber ninjutsu?" asked Jazz

Prowl paused from where he was trying to get Sludge to transform. "Why?"

"Just curious. You're pretty good, but your moves seem a little…off. Like you know what you're supposed to do but haven't had a chance to polish them up."

Prowl searched for a way to explain without giving away a very important fact. "My master deactivated before I could finish my training."

Jazz winced. "Sorry to hear that…Maybe I could show you a few moves before we leave."

Prowl ignored him and continued to try and work with Sludge. "It will only be for a moment. You can change right back if you want to."

Jazz frowned. "Prowl? You hearing me?"

Prowl bit back a groan. Looks like Jazz wasn't someone willing to be ignored. "I don't think so. Maybe next time."

"You sure? It seems like you'd pick it up real quick."

"My spinal relays were severed," explained Prowl. "I've mostly recovered, but I've found there's still a bit of lag. I'd like to get rid of that first." It was a perfectly valid excuse…as long as Jazz didn't ask Ratchet.

Jazz winced as he thought about what that had to be like. "How did you manage to sever your spinal relay?"

Prowl paused. "We really did have to fight Megatron, and the first time I nearly died."

Jazz got the message. "Well, mechs have faced Megatron and had worse happen to them. Sounds like you got off lucky."

Prowl nodded. He realized that now. How could he have been so foolish to think that he could take on Megatron without getting hurt? "I'll give you an energon treat," he said to Sludge.

That did it. Sludge transformed to her robot mode. Jazz chuckled as he started snapping pictures. "Just like sparklings…"

Prowl nodded as he handed Sludge the promised treat. "Believe me. I think the same thing all the time."

"Well, if you change your mind, let me know."

Prowl nodded, but he had no intention of taking Jazz up on his offer. Prowl wanted to be more social and work with others, but he was not going to interact with other cyber ninjas if he could help it.

Especially those who had trained with Yoketron.

Elsewhere:

Soundwave heard the giggles before he even turned around to see Nancy riding on Ravage's back. "Reason for visit?"

"I just wanted to see you, and I ran into Ravage," said Nancy. She looked around. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but she certainly hadn't expected to find him in the underground sewer system. "How come you're living here?"

Soundwave pointed up at some wires that he'd spliced various computers into. "Reason: Access to cables."

Nancy nodded as she climbed off Ravage and scratched him behind his ears. "I wish I was a robot so I could understand how you do that." She climbed up onto a table that held various robot parts for a much bigger mech. "Is this your new body?"

"Affirmative."

"What're you gonna turn into?"

"Possibilities: Truck, van, jeep, humvee."

"You're not gonna turn into something that can fly?"

"Soundwave: Lacks ability to fly."

Nancy pouted. "Aw, flying's fun too…" She walked to a clear spot on the table and emptied her backpack. "I got a bunch of spare parts from robots. You can find them lying around all over the place. I don't know if they're any good though. Mom said there was some sort of worldwide crash with them, and I don't know if that means their circuits are fried or anything."

Soundwave glanced over. "Parts: Salvageable."

Nancy smiled, glad to be of some help. "Okay. So, what've you been doing?"

"Work."

Nancy made her way over to another pile of parts. "Are you making more robots?"

"Affirmative."

"What're they gonna turn into?"

"Plan: Humanoid to speakers."

Nancy nodded. "So, where's Laserbeak? I wanted to say hi to him too."

"Work."

Down below:

"Dr. White? Dr. White?"

Dr. White groaned as he started to regain consciousness. He was surprised to see Rafael leaning over him. "Rafael? What?" He sat up and groaned as his head throbbed. "Ow…What happened?"

"Considering the bruises on your face, I'm guessing Mr. Dialonzo punched you out."

Dr. White gave Rafael a look of shock. "What? Why would he do that?"

Rafael pointed behind him. "I think it's because he's working with them."

Dr. White turned and paled when he saw Megatron watching a monitor, Blitzwing leaning against a wall, and Masterson and Penelope working on Spittor. Dr. White turned back to Rafael. "Why would they want any of us?"

Rafael shrugged. "Turns out they don't have any doctors, which would be like a mechanic to us. The closest thing they have to a medic is a chemist named Oil Slick, who I think we're gonna have to look at later."

"…Why did they come to an alien planet without a doctor?" Dr. White asked in disbelief.

Rafael winced. "They didn't think they'd have enough trouble to need one."

Dr. White also winced. "I see. Why should we help them?"

"Well, I wouldn't…except they said they'd kill me and just kidnap someone else instead."

Dr. White nodded. He certainly didn't want to get someone else kidnapped because he tried to be heroic. "Guess we're gonna have to bide our time then. So, we're here to perform maintenance on them?"

"Actually, I think that's just a bonus for them," said Rafael. He pointed at a large screen. "They want us to figure out how that works."

Dr. White looked at the blueprints. "What is it? I can't read the words without my glasses."

"Something to do with teleportation," said Rafael. "It's incomplete though since it was stolen from the Autobots."

"They want us to complete a technology that is more complex than anything we've ever seen before using blueprints that are incomplete and laws that I doubt anyone on Earth has ever heard of before?"

"Pretty much."

Dr. White groaned. "…I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd rather work for Powell."

Dinobot Island:

Sari held out four shards in her hands. "I don't know how it works exactly, but I did manage to find a few shards."

Silverbolt gave her a small smile. "It is…impressive."

"Well, if there's a way to find the Allspark shards, I don't think you'll have to worry about getting thrown into the stockades or anything," admitted Jazz. "You'll probably just have to find all the pieces of the Allspark."

"I think I saw a cartoon like that on the internet once," commented Bumblebee.

"Yeah, yeah, can we please leave now?" asked Sentinel. "I really need to take a decontamination bath."

Jazz rolled his optics, though no one could see it. "All right. Boss mech will probably want us to upload everything as soon as possible."

"I'll take you to the mainland!" chimed in Wheeljack.

As Wheeljack led the two Elite Guards away, Sari decided to pay attention to the Dinobots. "Did you behave for Prowl and Jazz?"

Slag nodded. "We be good."

"Very good," chimed in Grimlock.

"Him Prowl give Dinobots treats," said Sludge.

"Swoop help Ratchet," added Swoop.

Snarl was characteristically silent, but showed how happy he was too see Sari with his actions.

"Really? Well, you'll have to tell me all about your day."

Prowl backed off to give the family some space. He jumped when he felt something on his shoulder and spun around. It was Silverbolt.

For someone so big, he knew how to be quiet. "Sorry," apologized Silverbolt.

Prowl sighed and ran a servo over his face. "It's fine. I'm just…distracted."

"Talk to Sari."

Prowl looked over at Sari, who was still happily tending to the Dinobots. "She's busy."

Silverbolt huffed. "Not now. You…need to talk."

Prowl crossed his arms. "I believe that's unnecessary."

Silverbolt gave Prowl a look. "You…are upset…with the…other. Something…caused that. You need to talk."

Prowl made an annoyed sound, partly because Silverbolt was being stubborn and partly because he had a point. Prowl was still rather upset that Sari had withheld some important information from him.

Then again…hadn't he done the same with Jazz earlier today?

"I'll talk with her about it after the Elite Guard leave," Prowl acquiesced. "There's a few of things I don't want them to hear."

Silverbolt nodded in acceptance but didn't move away. Prowl didn't complain.

_And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword._

"First order of business: The kidnapped scientists. None of the Decepticons currently on Earth are qualified to reverse engineer a space bridge, and they need a medic better than Oil Slick. Isaac Sumdac can't play this role, so several scientists will be playing this role instead," explained Vector.

"Henry Masterson is obvious," continued KHGiggle. "He works at Sumdac Systems as he did in canon, and it went much better since Isaac didn't reject him after the disastrous Headmaster demonstration in this universe."

"Penelope Sutton is less obvious. She is actually 'Professor Princess' as you might have figured out. KHGiggle figured that if she had a PhD in the canon timeline, Powell wouldn't have a problem hiring her and would be willing to make her criminal record disappear."

"Rafael Esquivel is the same as Jack, a counter part to the Prime character we're familiar with. He's about the same age as Penelope, but he's already got a doctorate in programming so Powell hired him when he applied," said KHGiggle

"Dr. White is the father of Rad White, a character from Transformers Armada. While he was only briefly mentioned in the original series, he's going to be much more important in this universe."

"And now for the reviews!" said KHGiggle. "We got three positive reviews in one chapter! Thanks so much! You guys are the reason we do this!"

"No, we're doing this because you nearly broke the timeline," interjected Vector.

"Don't ruin the mood," hissed KHGiggle. She continued at a more normal volume. "And concerning a particular question about Sentinel Prime…I don't think he's gonna die. I mean, yeah he's a jerk, but he's a Prime for a reason. Plus I have some misgivings about Cybertronian culture in the Animated universe. After all, they hate/fear organics for no known reason. His attitude may actually be commonplace on Cybertron, in which case he does not deserve death any more than a typical Cybertronian."

"That's all the time we have for the moment," interrupted Vector. "We will be seeing you next week. Until then, we will take our leave."

_This has been The Afterword._


	3. Definitive Proof

Since the Battle of Detroit, as everyone had taken to calling it, quite a lot of trash had started piling up. This was because trash was mainly transported by robots. That included a rather large barge that held rotten food, plastic, styrofoam, a Seeker body, lots of seagulls…

Wait. Back up.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Starscream's body was very out of place. However, it would take a Transformer to tell you that the body should be faded gray at this point, especially considering what Megatron had done to Starscream. That was not something you could survive.

So it was rather shocking when Starscream suddenly shot up, his null rays pointing in front of him. "You dare attack-Huh?" Starscream looked around in confusion. "Where'd everybody go? And where am I? This isn't that tower."

Starscream last remembered getting punched in the chassis by Megatron, but he wasn't aware of what had been done to him afterward. One thing he could tell: Megatron had decided to let him go. Ergo, he needed to go find Megatron and kill him! For real this time!

Starscream instantly started scanning for Decepticon signals. What he found was very disconcerting. "I'm not picking up any signals…including my own!"

Starscream took a few moments to panic over that. "Okay, calm down Starscream. You're still here. It's probably just some residual damage from when Megatron punched you out. Must've figured out I put a bomb on him."

Starscream stood up. "So…I need to figure out where the rest of the Cons are. Shouldn't be that difficult." Then he transformed and blasted off.

Decepticon headquarters:

Icy Blitzwing was staring at Lugnut. "I cannot pick up any sort of signal from you despite the fact you are standing in front of me." He turned to the smirking human. "Impressive."

"Told ya I'd figure it out," said Masterson.

"Why are you helping them?" demanded Penelope, who was trying to fix the parts of Oil Slick that were _still_ damaged. "They're probably going to kill us when they're done with us! And then wipe out the human race or enslave us or something!"

"Yeah, so I'm gonna enjoy myself while I still can!"

Rafael made a face. "Did Masterson just admit to enjoying designing weapons?"

"Don't think about it too hard," instructed Dr. White. "We need to concentrate on figuring out this space bridge."

Rafael frowned. "Why are we helping them?"

"They threatened to kill and replace us."

"Oh yeah."

Dr. White shrugged. "It's not like we'll be able to complete it."

That caught Megatron's attention. "What was that?"

"Compared to these schematics, even the latest human technology, including the experimental tech, is laughably primitive," explained Dr. White. "I have no idea how we're going to construct most of these things, though I suppose we might be able to think of something. I know we won't be able to make…" He paused to look for the component and pointed at it. "That. I have no idea what it is or what it's for, but I know we won't be able to construct it."

Megatron frowned. "There may be an alternative source."

Dinobot Island:

"We're being exiled?!" shouted Bumblebee.

When the Elite Guard had arrived today, Ultra Magnus had requested everyone be present. It was probably the first time they'd all been in the same place, even if a drowsy Flareup had to be carried by Bulkhead.

The news Ultra Magnus gave them was not good.

"You're lucky that's all your slaggers are getting," said Sentinel.

Jazz interrupted. "Think of it this way: The bots on Cybertron aren't going to react well if you come home and they find out you destroyed the Allspark."

Everyone realized that Jazz had a very good point. Maybe staying on Earth would be a good idea.

"Should you find a way to restore the Allspark, the exile will be lifted," continued Ultra Magnus. "We would take the shards currently in your possession back to Cybertron, but Alpha Trion advised us against putting a large amount of distance between the shards as no one knows what sort of effect that will have on them."

"I can help with that," volunteered Sari. Her clan wasn't really concerned about the exile since they considered Earth their home, but they recognized that the Allspark shards could cause a lot or problems in the surrounding area.

"Can we move?" asked Flareup. She pointed up at the ship. "'Cause this is a really inconvenient location." This got her some looks. "What? It is."

Ratchet sighed. "We'll worry about that later." He turned back to Ultra Magnus. "What about the Decepticons?" Ratchet wasn't going to believe they were dead until he saw the bodies.

"We have yet to find any evidence of Decepticons being present," said Ultra Magnus.

"Really? That's weird. I'd have thought there'd be a bunch of pictures floating about the internet," said Wheeljack.

At that moment, Soundwave deleted a picture of Random Blitzwing that someone had put on Myspace. Random Blitzwing tended to end up on a lot of these sites. For some reason he was almost always dancing.

"There's no way all of us could have imagined seeing Decepticons," argued Flareup. "And how do you explain my cosmic rust! That doesn't come out of nowhere you know."

"That is why we'll be taking your statements. All of you." Ultra Magnus looked meaningfully at the Dino clan.

"That is going to be very tricky," said Sari as she put on her mask. Obviously, Ultra Magnus didn't have a lot of experience with children.

Meanwhile, at the Elite Guard ship:

Beneath the ship, a small circle of the ground lifted up and was pushed off to the side. Oil Slick climbed out and scanned the underside of the ship. He quickly located the tachyon transmitter, detached it, and attached it to his back to keep his servos free. He climbed back into the hole, replacing the stone circle and somehow keeping it in place with a ninja trick.

Unfortunately, a jet had been watching the ship for lack of any other leads and started tailing Oil Slick using sonar.

Much later, the Autobots finally made it back to the ship. Sentinel was twitching. That had been awful. Due to the fact that the Dinobots could only go as fast as a dinosaur and Silverbolt was stuck in his robot mode and Flareup had to hitch a ride with Bulkhead…There may have been other reasons, but Sentinel had stopped paying attention when he realized he was going to have to walk through the city.

While that wouldn't take too long normally (They were much bigger than a human after all.), the Dinobots got distracted by anything that caught their attention. Plus kids apparently thought the robotic dinosaurs were cool, which caused several distractions. And various women had demanded that Sari put on some more clothes. Sari didn't understand why. And they had a brief run in with Dr. Darby who asked Silverbolt how he was doing before commenting that he should probably be careful about what he ate since there were some things canines (and birds) just can't eat.

All in all, it took much longer to get to the ship than it should have, and Sentinel was relieved to be back. "Is it always like this?"

"It's Murphy's Law," said Wheeljack. "It seems unusually prevalent on this planet…or we're just _really_ unlucky."

"Let's just get this interrogation started…" muttered Sentinel.

Bumblebee groaned. "This is gonna take forever…"

Back with the Decepticons:

Oil Slick placed the tachyon transmitter near what would eventually be a space bridge. "Done. Anything else you need?"

Dr. White was perusing the blue prints. "I honestly can't say."

"Me neither," said Raf.

Penelope tilted her head. "I think that…no it's something else that we should be able to make. Never mind."

"This would be easier if it was in English," groused Masterson.

"Cyclonus, that's the purple one, translated for us while you were designing the cloaking device," explained Dr. White.

For some reason that no one could figure out, Cyclonus had decided to keep an optic on the humans and make sure they didn't get squished or starve or something.

Since they were currently more useful alive than dead, no one had tried to make him do something else.

"We should be okay, but it's hard to say since the blueprints are incomplete," said Dr. White.

Strika made a displeased sound. "Not exactly what we want to hear, but I suppose that's what you get when you have to rely on little-Get down!"

Blitzwing, who'd simply been walking across the cavern, threw himself across the ground as Strika threw a boulder where his head had just been. Blitzwing hadn't been her target though. Her target had been the seeker she'd seen trying to sneak in. It hit him in the head, eliciting a yelp.

Megatron had turned to see what had caught Strika's attention. Upon recognizing Starscream, he ran a sword through the seeker's spark chamber. Starscream slumped over, seemingly deactivated. Megatron kicked Starscream off his sword.

And yet Starscream's color didn't fade. Megatron frowned and pried open Starscream's spark chamber. Empty. Well, some bodies took longer to fade than other.

"You bitch! You could have hit me!" shouted Hothead Blitzwing.

Strika crossed her servos. "I told you to duck, didn't I?"

"Do not talk to her like that!" demanded Lugnut.

Megatron ignored the budding argument and gestured for Blackout. "Throw this trash out."

"Wait!" shouted Masterson. "Maybe we can use some of his parts in the space bridge."

"Starscream is a traitor," said Megatron. "Traitors are trash, and we can't have trash in our base." His tone brokered no argument, and Blackout picked Starscream up and left through one of the corridors. Megatron gave the shell shocked humans a look. "Get back to work."

Outside, Blackout unceremoniously dumped Starscream's body off a cliff and into a river. Not caring about what happened to Starscream's body past this, Blackout headed back inside.

If he'd stayed outside another couple of moments, he would've seen Starscream suddenly shoot back up. "You think that-Huh? How'd I get out here?" He looked down and realized that his spark chamber was open…and empty.

He promptly panicked.

"What happened to my spark?! I'm too young to be deactivated!" Starscream paused. "I don't think this is what the Well of All Sparks is supposed to look like…" Starscream poked at his empty spark chamber before closing it. Something started glowing on his forehead. Starscream started and looked around for a moment before realizing that the glow was coming from him and leaned over to look at his reflection.

There was something embedded in his forehead, something very familiar. "Is that…part of the Allspark?" Starscream tapped at it. It seemed real. "The source of all Cybertronian life…It must be why I'm still online without a spark." He smirked. "Which makes little old Starscream here immortal."

"Hear me Megatron! My vengeance will be swift!"

If you've seen the canon timeline show, you know what follows: Starscream tries to off Megatron a bunch and fails spectacularly each time while Megatron's speech is used as background sound. Mostly it was Megatron doing the 'killing', but all the other Decepticons got in on the action. Lugnut used his punch of kill everything, Hothead Blitzwing got to take out some of his misplaced aggression, Strika ripped something out of him, Blackout threw him out, Cyclounus stabbed him a bunch, Oil Slick hit him with acid, and Spittor tried to eat him.

Even Penelope managed to take him down once, although how she managed to do that was anyone's guess.

Eventually, Starscream jerked back to awareness in the river for what felt like the nth time and froze as he realized he'd been killed again. He groaned. "Maybe I need to try a different approach."

Of course, he had to figure out what sort of approach that would be. Starscream sat for a moment as he tried to figure out what to do. A slight glow caught his optics. He grinned. "That'll work."

By then, the Autobot interrogations had finished. The Elite Guard were not pleased.

"Every single one of them…" muttered Sentinel. "They all insisted that the Decepticons' elite are on this planet with them!"

"I like the nicknames the Dinobots came up with," interjected Jazz. These names included Three Face, Big Dummy, Bunny, and Jar Head. Blunt to the point of rudeness, but incredibly funny to hear.

"Can't believe those glitchheads managed to keep their stories straight," muttered Sentinel. The Dinobots definitely were stupid. They didn't even understand that they were the same species as the Autobots.

"I find that worrying," admitted Ultra Magnus. "For all their…faults, the Dinobots are essentially younglings. They shouldn't have the mental maturity necessary to lie."

Sentinel nodded. He had to cede that point. "But there's still the fact that all we have is hearsay."

Ultra Magnus was aware of this. The different bots had given different statements. Bumblebee and Bulkhead didn't have much to say since their only encounters were when their ship crashed and the recent battle. Prowl had given some more information as he had claimed to have been attacked by Starscream at one point. Wheeljack had described the behavior of Blitzwing and Lugnut when they first landed along with the way the Dino clan had acted in battle. He'd mentioned having Starscream's servo but had said he'd lost it when asked to produce it. Ratchet had gone into detail on the injuries everyone had suffered. Flareup had told them all sorts of information she'd picked up on along with the horror that was mutated space barnacles.

They still didn't think those were real.

Then came Silverbolt. His responses had been short and terse. Normally, Ultra Magnus would have been annoyed, but his vocalizer was obviously still recovering. Silverbolt had ended up typing most of his responses. He was quite certain that he'd fought Megatron though.

Sari was tricky. She didn't know the words that most Cybertronians were familiar with and couldn't explain a lot of the stuff that had happened to her, like the creation of the Dinobots.

The Dinobots were nearly impossible to interrogate, mainly because most would attack the interrogator if annoyed or insulted. Their grammar made it kind of hard to tell what they'd said too.

However, while the details varied widely, none of the stories actually contradicted each other.

"There has been peace for vorns. I'd rather not risk inciting panic by revealing the possibility that Megatron and the Decepticons are becoming active." But Ultra Magnus could not risk ignoring such a monumental threat. Sentinel was young enough that he didn't remember what the war had been like. If the Decepticons attacked and the Autobots were unprepared… "Megatron is the most dangerous mech I have ever met. He is very intelligent, more so than most give him credit for." There were several things that could hide a signal. "We will not tell the population at large, but we will prepare Cybertron's defenses in case there is a Decepticon attack."

"You're actually believing this stuff?" asked Sentinel.

"I am giving them the benefit of the doubt…for now. Should they give me reason to believe otherwise, the matter will be dropped."

That seemed to be the end of the discussion. Ultra Magnus walked back to the bridge. The Dinobots and young bots were noticeably restless, Wheeljack was trying to show Silverbolt how to use the computer, and Flareup was curled up in recharge next to Sludge.

Ratchet was waiting for Ultra Magnus, obviously worried about the verdict.

"We have decided to consider the Decepticons a real threat." Ratchet noticeably slumped out of relief. "However, as there is still no evidence of Decepticons being present on this planet, we will not be providing you with reinforcements."

"What?! Didn't you see the damage to the city?!" shouted Ratchet. "We didn't cause that! Ask anyone, and they'll tell you that it was the Decepticons!"

"We need hard evidence," explained Ultra Magnus. "Not just claims." He already suspected a couple of the bots were guilty of deception through omission. That made him question their motives.

Any further arguments were cut off when Wheeljack made an odd sound that caught their attention. "Uh, the computer's picking up some Allspark energy…It's not the shards we have on the island…and it's moving."

Ultra Magnus nodded. "Very well. If you would like assistance, we shall accompany you."

As everyone started to move out, Silverbolt stared at the computer. He couldn't help but think it was odd that the computer was suddenly picking up a signal when the only one to notice before was Sari. What was different this time?

The reason it was different was because of what was causing the signal.

Some areas of Detroit had suffered less damage than others, and repair had been more focused on certain areas and structures. One of these structures was the public transportation system, especially the trains, which went all over the city.

Starscream had placed a shard of the Allspark on the engine and was keeping an eye on it from above. "There's no way Megatron will be able to resist this." Yeah, there was a chance an Autobot would find it, but Starscream figured he could just deactivate the bot and put the shard back.

Down Below:

Megatron raised an optic ridge. The computer was picking up an Allspark signal. Normally, Megatron would go out and retrieve it (or mitigate it to one of his subordinates) because the Allspark was the most powerful known Cybertronian artifact, even shattered into countless pieces. However, the circumstances seemed…off. The shard was moving around. After some 'compliance' from the human captives, Megatron figured out that it was moving around along the route of the train system. Megatron would have expected the shard to have affected the train or been picked up before now.

Perhaps it would be best to send someone to scout it out first. Considering the pace, a flier would be best. Blackout was out. He just was not designed for scouting. Neither was Lugnut. Icy Blitzwing would be good, but Hothead and Random were likely to blow his cover. That left…

"Cyclonus." The seeker looked over from his normal post next to the humans. "Investigate the source of this signal and determine if it's a trap. Stay out of sight, and do not make contact with anyone."

"And if I run into Starscream?"

Megatron frowned. For once he was actually confused. Starscream's spark chamber was definitely empty, and he'd damaged every other part of Starscream's body that could house the mechanism. Starscream could be using clones, but considering that no one had ever figured out how to keep the clones from being…extreme in one personality aspect, Megatron doubted this was a possibility. The only thing he could think of was that an Allspark shard was involved in some way. "Take him out. If possible, see if he has an Allspark shard embedded on his body somewhere."

Cyclonus nodded and headed out.

"You know, I think that's the first time I've heard him talk," commented Rafael.

"Guess he's an introvert," answered Dr. White.

Detroit:

"I'd say the train is being affected by the Allspark shard," commented Wheeljack.

"Ya think?!"

The train was flying around its track like there was no tomorrow. It had to be going at least twice as fast as the regular maximum speed, and it wasn't stopping. Ratchet hoped there weren't any humans onboard.

"If it keeps going like that, it's gonna eventually run off the tracks," continued Wheeljack. "The tracks just aren't built to hold under that sort of stress."

"And how are we going to stop a train?"

Okay, Sentinel had a point there. Even a human train was difficult to stop. "Well, we can have Sari sneak in and apply the brakes."

Sari, who'd been brought along to help track the train, interrupted. "I don't know how to work a train! Heck, I barely know how to work a computer!"

"It's not that hard. You just pull the break," instructed Wheeljack while miming the action

"How do we slow it down enough to get on?" asked Bulkhead.

"We probably won't be able to," said Wheeljack. "The shard's supercharging the train. We need to remove the shard before we try to stop it."

"How am I supposed to jump on a speeding train?" demanded Sari.

"Well, if you jump at the right time from the correct height, you'll land on the train as it's going by," explained Wheeljack.

"I can do that," said Jazz. It was not uncommon for ninjas to learn how to walk on rapidly moving surfaces. "Prowl can too, right?"

Prowl thought for a moment. "Probably."

"So we can help Sari get on the train and into the control section," continued Jazz

"Are there any arguments against this course of action?" asked Ultra Magnus.

Silence.

Sari groaned. "Oh fine…I'll go."

A moment later, Jazz, Prowl, and Sari were perched on a building overlooking the tracks. "Have either of you guys done this before?"

"A few times," admitted Jazz. "The trick is to time it ju-u-u-st right."

They tensed as the train rounded the corner. As soon as it was close enough, they jumped.

Wheeljack's calculations were pretty good. They landed on the fourth car down. Sari instantly plastered herself against the roof and used her energy tonfa to stay in place. "Wind!"

Jazz and Prowl had to kneel down as well. Prowl cupped his hands around Sari to help protect her from the wind before moving her towards the shard.

That part was actually pretty easy. "Got the shard." Now they had to stop the train.

Up above, Starscream was annoyed. "Great, now I gotta fight the Autobots. Oh well, can't be any worse than-"

Starscream was cut off when something slammed into his back. He had enough time to see a snarling Cyclonus before the latter's twin swords were rammed into his wings hard enough to send him spiraling into the ground. Deciding that his job was done, Cyclonus transformed back into his jet form and took off for the mines.

And Starscream landed in front of Wheeljack and Sentinel. "What is that?!"

Wheeljack spared a glance. "That's Starscream. He attacked Prowl, remember?" He promptly went back to trying to relay instructions to Sari.

Starscream groaned as he sat up. He realized that there were two Autobots in front of him and pointed his null rays at him. "Don't move!"

They didn't. However, something grabbed him from behind and started shaking him violently.

Sentinel stared as Slag (in his alt mode) shook Starscream by his wing. "Why do those things keep shaking everything they bite?"

"No idea." Honestly, Wheeljack thought Grimlock was the only one who did that…and only with Sentinel. "Prowl, will you please tell Sari that Slag and possibly other Dinobots followed us?"

"_What?! Silverbolt was supposed to be watching them!"_

"Maybe Slag got away from him. It can't be easy to look after five rambunctious Dinobots with a broken arm and wing." Wheeljack glanced over at Slag. "Also, I think Slag is trying to eat Starscream. I wonder if he's going to rip something off like Silverbolt did."

Sentinel gave Wheeljack a horrified look. "What?"

"I said I had Starscream's servo for a while, remember?"

"But how would-" Sentinel was interrupted by a screeching sound coming from Starscream. It was a combination of the screech of metal tearing and Starscream…screaming. As his wing was ripped off, Starscream was sent flying into a building. He offlined due to the extreme pain that came with having a wing ripped off. Slag promptly lost interest in the wing, dropped it, and started ambling off.

Wheeljack promptly intercepted him. "Hey now…Younglings shouldn't wander around on their own like that." Slag snorted and tried to get around him. "If you're looking for Mommy and Daddy, they should be here any minute now. They just had to deal with a little problem." The promise of his parents being there soon seemed to mollify Slag enough for him to stay put. "Good Slag."

By that time, Sentinel had placed a pair of stasis cuff on Starscream. He'd been carrying them around since landing just in case he needed to slap them on a disrespectful bot. A Decepticon was even better. He quickly turned on his com link. "Ultra Magnus sir, I've just found and captured a Decepticon!"

Wheeljack gave him a look of disbelief. "He dropped out of the sky and got thrown into a building by Slag!"

"Hey, if I hadn't been here, Starscream would've come back online before anyone found him!" argued Sentinel

Wheeljack sighed exasperatedly and reestablished the chat with Prowl. "So, has Sari managed to figure out the controls yet? 'Cause Slag is expecting you two now, and he's not exactly patient."

"_It does appear to be slowing down…"_

"Great see you soon!"

After everyone regrouped, they made their way back to the ship.

Silverbolt was there and was holding Grimlock back with a cord that had been wrapped around his neck. As soon as he saw Sari, Grimlock relaxed and nuzzled her. Silverbolt gave the group a reproachful look, sparing Starscream a curious gland. "You…left me with the Dinobots."

"Are any others wandering around?" asked Ultra Magnus.

"Swoop." If Silverbolt had to choose between stopping Grimlock and Swoop, he'd choose Grimlock every time.

"Why didn't you contact us?" demanded Sentinel.

"Cannot."

"What do you mean you can't?"

Silverbolt shrugged. "Cannot."

Jazz intervened before a fight could break out. "Hey now! It all worked out! Let's just load up Starscream while Wheeljack tries to fix the communications system."

Wheeljack peered under the ship. "Your tachyon transmitter is missing," deadpanned Wheeljack. Honestly, how had no one noticed that before now? It was kind of hard to miss the hole it left behind

"Then it is imperative that we leave immediately," said Ultra Magnus. They needed to get Starscream back to Cybertron where they could throw him into the barracks after pumping him for all the information they could get. "Given that the presence of Decepticons has now been confirmed, we will be sure to send you some reinforcements."

"Finally!"

Ratchet shared Bumblebee's sentiments. "How soon until they arrive?"

Ultra Magnus took a moment to do some mental math. "With the use of space bridges and warp drives, maybe an orbital cycle. We'll see if there are any groups nearby."

After corralling Snarl and Sludge off the ship and picking up Flareup, the Elite Guard unceremoniously left.

"So, now what?" asked Bulkhead.

Wheeljack's fins lit up. "House shopping!"

Everyone groaned unanimously.

Two Days later:

"We will be reaching Dromedon in 10 breems," announced Jazz.

"Good, make preparations to disembark," instructed Ultra Magnus. "We need to contact Cybertron and-" He was cut off by an explosion.

The three Elite Guard immediately ran for the source of the explosion: The brig.

When they arrived, there was a gaping hole where it used to be. Starscream was nowhere to be seen. "He escaped?! How could he escape?!" shouted Sentinel.

"I have no idea," said Jazz. Honestly, how did Starscream get out? Even a cyber ninja would find it difficult to get out of stasis cuffs and a muzzle, not to mention the handicap the missing wing provided.

Outwardly, Ultra Magnus remained stone faced, but his grip on the Magnus Hammer tightened. "We are unable to pursue him. We will continue to Dromedon as planned and send out a team to retrieve him."

This team would be ultimately unsuccessful, and Starscream would be allowed to continue his trek back to Earth. "That's it! I don't care if they're an Autobot, a Decepticon, or a squishy little organic! They're all going to pay!"

_And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword._

"Greetings yet again," said Vector. "Now for another set of explanations."

"The Autobots don't know about the missing scientists because no one is aware that the Decepticons are involved. For the moment, the Detroit police and FBI are taking care of it."

"Megatron didn't capture Starscream because you do not keep someone who wants to kill you in your house, especially if they're immortal."

"And Sari's didn't pick up the Allspark shard on Starscream for a very good reason," said KHGiggle. "Since it's sort of substituting as his spark, it'll be difficult for her to pick it up unless it starts repairing him in her presence."

Vector waited a moment. "No reviews?"

"No…" KHGiggle glanced at the previous chapter. "I guess it's because not much happened in the last chapter?"

"I noticed you didn't go into much detail on the Starscream Death Montage."

"Wow, I can't believe even you refer to it as such," said KHGiggle. "Anyway, I figure anything I write will pale in comparison to what the readers can come up with."

"Any other matters to address today?"

KHGiggle checked her list. "Nope! Which means we can go back to our jobs 'til next week! See you guys then!"

_This has been The Afterword._


	4. New Arrivals

"This is where we're living?" asked Bumblebee.

The Autobots were standing in front of a dilapidated factory on the edge of Detroit. The forest was within viewing distance.

House hunting is never fun. It's even less fun when you're literally an alien. The Autobots needed to find a place that was big enough to accommodate all of them. They also needed to be close to the forest because Silverbolt insisted on being able to hunt his own food. Electricity and a running water supply were also a must.

There weren't many buildings that met these requirements, so they were going to have to make do with the one the city had agreed to let them use.

It didn't look any better on the inside. It was completely bare, but at least they wouldn't have to do too much cleaning before setting their things up.

"So, let's go claim our rooms!" shouted Wheeljack. This resulted in a bit of a stampede. Bulkhead and Prowl set off at a more sedate pace after the initial rush. Wheeljack and Ratchet didn't really care where they roomed so they stayed in what was probably going to be the living area. Silverbolt just walked over to a corner and curled up to take a nap.

"You know what this place needs?" asked Wheeljack. "A couch! I bet I could put one together with the right materials."

Ratchet groaned at the declaration. That was just what they needed, Wheeljack building furniture.

On the other hand, it was doubtful he could make a simple couch explode.

Upstairs, Prowl placed his meager box of possessions on the floor of the room he'd chosen. Most of the ceiling and half the walls were missing, and a tree was growing up from the ground floor.

Most wouldn't want a room so exposed to the elements or attack, but Prowl figured he could deal with a little rain. The view was worth it.

Prowl absentmindedly ran a servo down the bark of the tree. Prowl had to wonder how long this factory had been abandoned that this tree had managed to grow through two stories. It had to be old. He'd gotten the impression trees took a while to grow this large.

"Aw man! I wanted this room!" Prowl blinked and turned to see an annoyed Sari in the doorway.

"Why?"

"Well, the Dinobots are in the room below, so I figured if I had this room I could just jump down if they needed me. Plus I haven't lived in a house since I was six. It's gonna be weird being inside when I sleep."

"…Perhaps you could sleep in the forest?"

Sari glared. "There is a big difference between sleeping in a nice, dry cave and a forest floor where you can get rained on."

"You could get a tent."

"I don't have any money, and those are supposed to be temporary. Besides, I'm the only one who'd fit in the tent," said Sari. "The Dinobots need their snuggles."

"Uh huh…" Prowl started putting up a divider in the doorway. "I suppose you'll just have to get used to living inside again."

Sari crossed her arms with a huff. "You're a real ass, you know that?

"You're not exactly the modicum of social discipline yourself."

Sari growled before turning on her heel and jumping down the hole.

Prowl groaned and hung his head. He could've handled that better.

Next day:

"Okay, I think we can remove the casts," said Jack as he looked over the latest scan results. "Your bones look healed, but I'd avoid putting too much pressure on them. There's still a couple of repair processes going on, and you might refracture them if you try to go back to your normal active routine too soon. So take it easy another couple of weeks, and you should be good."

Silverbolt nodded, eyeing the buzzsaw Jack had fetched. He understood why it was chosen, but he still felt nervous. "Safe?"

"Sure, I do it all the time. I just have to adjust to the added thickness."

Silverbolt nodded. At this point, he didn't care how they were removed so long as the casts were gone.

Outside:

"And we now have electricity!" Wheeljack announced to no one in particular. He'd had to make some modifications to one of his energon generators since human systems ran on electricity instead of energon. It wasn't nearly as efficient in his opinion, but when in Velocitron.

Maybe he could help the humans develop tech that ran on energon. It would certainly cut down on costs for them. "Now, don't blow up on me." The generator contin'ued to run with no signs of an impending explosion. "Good." Wheeljack petted the generator. I think you'll do just fine as long as I perform the usual maintenance procedures on ya. Maybe I'll make a backup too…Hang on." Wheeljack looked up as he noticed a small dot in the sky. He increased the magnification in his optics to get a better look. "Oh…" _"Ratchet, I think those reinforcements just arrived."_

Ratchet frowned as he grabbed a datapad that contained reports detailing their encounters with Decepticons. _"That was faster than I expected. You sure it's them?"_

"_It's definitely an Autobot ship, and it's the correct make and model for what we're expecting."_

"_I'll be there in a moment."_

"_Okay, I'll say hello for you."_ Wheeljack caught a sigh as he cut the com link. "Okay, time to welcome the new arrivals!"

Wheeljack sure hoped they'd been briefed. This could be really awkward otherwise.

Before long, the ship had landed, and Wheeljack maneuvered himself so that he'd be the first thing the bots onboard saw when they exited the landing ramp…If anyone ever showed up. "Hello? Anybody home?"

A red head peeked out from the corner. "Is this the Autobot outpost on Earth?"

Wheeljack wasn't sure he'd call this an outpost. "More or less."

"Oh good." The head disappeared for a moment. "Guys! This is the right place! Get out here!" A second later, the mech ran down the ramp, allowing Wheeljack to get a better look at him. He was red, orange, and yellow with a flame pattern. "Name's Rodimus Prime."

"I'm Wheeljack. Nice ta meet 'cha." The two shook hands. "What was all that about?"

Rodimus snorted. "The others thought I was lost since this was an organic planet."

Wheeljack nodded. "Earth may be organic, but the life forms here are pretty much harmless. However, the humans are sentient and could potentially develop technology to fight us in a few generations if given the right incentive."

Rodimus nodded, making a note to try and get along with the locals. "Right, got it. So, are you the one in charge here?"

Wheeljack laughed. "No way! I'm too irresponsible! The closest we have to someone in charge is Ratchet, but he's the medic so that's mostly out of necessity."

"Maybe Red Alert can help him out."

"Is that your medic?"

"Yeah. I wonder what's taking everyone so long." Rodimus looked back and noticed a yellow head peeking over the edge. "Hot Shot! What're you doing? Come down here!"

"But-"

"Would the Elite Guard send us somewhere dangerous? Besides, these guys have been doing fine, and they're repair bots."

Hot shot cautiously made his way down the ramp. He paused at the bottom and stared at the ground for a moment before stepping off. He bounced experimentally on his pedes. "It feels okay…"

Rodimus nodded absentmindedly. "See? What'd I tell you?"

That was when a red and white femme carrying a container in her right servo disembarked. Her left servo was a medical tool instead of an actual servo, so Wheeljack figured this was Red Alert. "Hello."

"Hi." Wheeljack looked back up into the ship. "How many of you are there?" There had to be more than three.

"There's Brawn. He's probably just taking his time. Wasp and Ironhide probably got in trouble with Kup," said Rodimus.

Wheeljack blinked. "Kup? That old coot?" Maybe that was a bit hypocritical, but everyone considered Kup to be an old coot. "What was he doing with your group? He's supposed to be retired."

Rodimus paused. "Actually, he showed up, said he'd come out of retirement, had the proper orders, and hitched a ride. Something about how he's supposed to whip you guys into shape."

Wheeljack winced in pity for the younger bots. Kup had to be the toughest drill sergeant to ever exist. "Glad I'm a scientist. Oh, hey, Ratchet."

Ratchet had stomped out. Rodimus smiled and raised his hand. "Hey there. I'm-"

Rodimus was cut off when Ratchet thrust the datapad he'd been holding into his servos. "Here are the reports. You're in charge of this mess now." Then Ratchet turned back and walked into the base. Rodimus gave Wheeljack a confused look.

"He's been having flashbacks," explained Wheeljack. He leaned in. "It's made him grumpier than usual," he stage whispered. Then he straightened and clapped his servos together. "Right! Time for a tour!" He promptly grabbed the three surprised bots and dragged them into the base.

A few seconds later, Sari and the Dinobots exited the tree line. "Yep, looks like the reinforcements have arrived." They made their way over to the ship. As Sari was debating whether to introduce the Dinobots to the new arrivals, another bot came down the ramp.

It was a rather small, kind of boxy bot. He was smaller than Bumblebee, and Sari had thought that was as small as the Autobots came. He seemed to be thinking something similar with the odd look on his faceplate when he noticed her. The two stared awkwardly at one another for a moment.

Then Grimlock got annoyed. "Hey! You stop staring at Mommy!"

The bot made a face. "What?"

Sari coughed. "Yeah, that's what they call me, but my name's Sari. I'm guessing you're part of the reinforcements that Magnus guy said were coming."

It took Brawn a moment to figure out what that meant. He had no idea what 'Mommy' meant, but he did pick up that she was named Sari. "You're part of the repair bot group?"

"Yes and no. My family's neutral, but we're helping out since we want our home to stay safe."

Brawn took a long, considering look at Sari. "You're a bot?"

Sari shrugged. "Half. I'm a techno-organic."

Brawn's optics widened. "You mean that part of the report was true?!" Yeah, the report had mentioned that there were a couple of bots that were half organic, but he'd thought that was a rumor or misunderstanding or something. Don't get him wrong. Organics don't bother him. He's aware that there are much more dangerous things to worry about. He just doesn't see how you can have a partially organic Transformer. It doesn't make sense.

"You two are completely undisciplined! What did Sentinel teach you?!" Brawn groaned. That…that could make this situation go from awkward to dangerous. "And why hasn't Rodimus straightened you out yet?!"

And that was when Kup started down the ramp, dragging Ironhide and Wasp by their audials. "Back in my day, that sort of behavior would be grounds for a court martial!" Kup gave Sari and the Dinobots a glance but that was it. "I have half a processor to make you go through basic training again! You're damn lucky that Rodimus wants all bots ready for sudden attacks or I'd go through with it!"

"All right, all right already!"

"Why you drag bots?" asked Sludge.

"Because they're idiots!" shouted Kup, seemingly unbothered by the fact a robotic sauropod had just talked to him.

This statement was immediately proven when Ironhide saw Sari. Being young bots, Ironhide and Wasp hadn't paid attention throughout the entire report and briefing, and one of the things they had missed was that humans were sentient, intelligent, and were the ones in charge of the government and various other things on this planet. So when he saw Sari, Ironhide assumed that she was an organic pest and kicked at her in an attempt to make her leave.

Luckily, Sari noticed the kick in time to safely jump out of the way, but the Dinobots stiffened and started growling.

Inside the base:

Silverbolt was in his alt mode for the first time in weeks, and he felt great! Dr. Darby watched as he walked around the room and nodded. "Your leg seems to be working just fine. Let's check on that wing now."

"And this is the living room! And that is Jack (I like his name.). He's an organic doctor who specializes in animals and acts as a consultant since we don't know a thing about organic medicine. Ratchet's learned a bit, but not enough for him to take care of Silverbolt and Sari on his own. And that's Silverbolt, one of our resident techno-organic neutrals. He is very strange. I like him!"

Jack and Silverbolt stared at the three new bots. Hot Shot was wide-eyed at the sight of the large wolf. Red Alert looked interested in a scientific way. Rodimus walked up to the two. "Hi there. I'm Rodimus Prime." He extended his smallest digit to Jack, who awkwardly shook it. He extended his whole servo to Silverbolt. "I'm gonna be in charge now. Nice to meet you."

Silverbolt studied Rodimus for a moment before sniffing his servo. Silverbolt transformed back to robot mode to shake the other's servo, apparently deciding to trust Rodimus for the moment.

And then a loud roar ripped through the air. Silverbolt instantly transformed and dashed for the exit.

"What was that?" asked Hot Shot.

"That sounded like Grimlock," said Wheeljack. "Wonder what upset him."

"Grimlock is one of the Dinobots, right?" asked Rodimus. "How does he react to being upset?"

"He usually attacks whatever upset him with his giant flaming sword. Or his flamethrower. Or his denta. It depends."

Rodimus, Red Alert, and Hot Shot were running for the exit before Wheeljack finished his explanation. Wheeljack shrugged and turned to Jack. "So, how's Silverbolt?"

Outside was a mess. Grimlock was shaking Wasp in his mouth like a ragdoll. Sari was trying to get Grimlock to drop Wasp. Ironhide was fighting Slag and had dents because of this. Snarl was lying on the ground in robot mode, slightly out of it. Swoop was poking at him. Brawn and Sludge were fighting hand-to-hand, which was an odd thing to see due to the rather extreme height difference.

Kup was watching the whole thing, not feeling the slightest bit sorry for Ironhide or Wasp. He felt a bit bad for Brawn, but he figured the brawler could handle himself.

That was when Silverbolt entered the scene in beast mode. He came from seemingly nowhere and rammed into Slag, separating him from Ironhide. He snarled at Slag and growled in a way that indicated he would take on Slag himself if he did not back down.

Slag backed down, although he was still giving Ironhide a look.

Ironhide was caught off guard enough that he just stared.

Silverbolt turned his attention to Grimlock. "See how upset you made Grandpa?" said Sari. "Drop that bot right now."

Grimlock reluctantly dropped Wasp none too gently on the ground. Wasp groaned.

Silverbolt gave Sludge a look. That was enough for her to back off and change back to beast mode to go into a submissive posture.

Snarl was unaffected due to still being stunned. Swoop looked nervous, but was relieved he didn't have the look directed at him.

"Okay…That was both scary and cool," admitted Rodimus. "What happened here?"

"They just attacked us!" said Ironhide.

"You start it!" argued Grimlock.

"Ironhide tried to kick the human," explained Kup.

Now Ironhide was the recipient of Silverbolt's growling.

"Ironhide! Humans are the dominant species on this planet!" chided Rodimus. "You don't attack them! Relations are strained enough as it is!"

"Why do we need relations with them?" asked Ironhide.

"Because it's their planet!"

Red Alert had been looking over the mechs by that point in time. "Clear this up later. I want to get these guys to your med bay and fix them up."

Kup snorted. "Let 'em sit so they remember this. They gotta learn how to pick their fights."

Red Alert vented. "Well, I want to look Wasp over at least. Some of these puncture wounds look deep."

To everyone's surprise, Swoop scooped up Wasp. "Swoop help."

"…All right then. Show me to the med bay then."

"…Is anyone else hungry?" asked Sari. "I am starving. Let's see if there's anything to eat and look for a nice documentary to watch."

That seemed to calm down the rest of the Dinobots, but they still gave Ironhide nasty looks as they followed her inside.

Kup snorted. "Not exactly the best start to our stay."

"It could be worse," pointed out Rodimus.

And that was when Silverbolt changed to robot mode and grabbed Ironhide, lifting him up to his snarling face. "You hurt Sari, I kill you. Got it?" Ironhide gulped and nodded. "Good." He dropped Ironhide and stalked back to the base.

"I think it just got worse," commented Hot Shot.

Rodimus groaned. "This is going to be a lot harder than I thought."

For some reason, that made Kup laugh.

Inside, Swoop had just reached the med bay. "Here be med bay."

Red Alert looked around in surprise. "It's a bit undersupplied." Swoop gave her a confused look as he put Wasp on the medical berth. "You've never seen a fully stocked medical facility, have you?" Swoop shook his head. "Have you commed Ratchet?"

"What commed?"

"…You don't know how to use your com links?" Swoop didn't appear to understand. "You communicate with the devices set in your helms. You can hear the other in your processor and vice versa."

Swoop frowned. "Voices in head bad," he said in a tone that said this should be obvious to anyone.

The report and briefing had indicated that the Dinobots were essentially sparklings. Red Alert had thought this had been an exaggeration. It hadn't. "Yes, hearing voices with no source is a sign of mental illness, but these voices have a source, and your HUD screen will display the speaker so that you know who is contacting you even if you can't recognize the voice."

"…Swoop confused now."

Red Alert vented. "Right. We'll try again later." She moved to Wasp and started scanning his injuries. It was a few moments before she realized Swoop was still there. "Something wrong?"

"No."

"Then why are you still here?"

"Swoop stay with Ratchet. Swoop stay with medic lady too."

"My name is Red Alert," she corrected.

"Okay medic lady."

Red Alert vented. "Whatever."

Living Room:

"And I've been researching dinosaurs since we're gonna be living together, and dinosaurs are actually pretty cool. It's too bad they got blown up by a meteor," said Wheeljack

"They didn't get blown up. The meteor impact changed the environment so much that they couldn't survive," corrected Jack

"Oh, that makes more sense." Wheeljack paused so wave at the Dino Clan. "Hi guys. How's it going?"

"I've been better," muttered Sari as she sat down on the ground with some casserole that Jack had brought (certifiably organic!). "One of the new bots tried to kick me and pissed off the Dinobots." The Dinobts growled as they settled down around her. "I know most Cybertronians don't like organics, but didn't they read the report that told them that I'm gonna be working with them?"

"They might have missed that part," admitted Wheeljack. "We don't have perfect attention or memory. Why, I missed half the stuff in my political courses and forgot the rest of it shortly after graduation. Uh, don't tell Ratchet that, okay?"

"Not very professional," muttered Sari.

"If there's a robot running around kicking humans, I think I'd better leave," said Dr. Darby. "Preferably with an escort."

Wheeljack got the hint and showed Dr. Darby out. A second later, Silverbolt entered, transformed to beast mode, and settled down next to the rest of his family. Rodimus entered next and awkwardly made his way over, tensing slightly when the Dinobots started growling. He held up his servos to convey he was (relatively) unarmed. "Hey, relax. I don't plan on hurting any of you. I just want to apologize for what Ironhide did. It was out of line."

"That one…should…apologize," said Silverbolt

"Yeah, I'm aware of that, but as the leader of this unit, I should take responsibility for my subordinates' actions."

Silverbolt snorted and placed his head on his talons. "His actions, not yours."

Rodimus was spared from any further disagreements when Fanzone stormed in. "All right! What's with the new spaceship that half the city reported seeing in the sky?"

Sari raised an eyebrow. "Only half? I thought everyone would see that."

Fanzone ignored Sari to examine Rodimus. "Who're you? New arrival on that ship?"

"Yes, I'm Rodimus Prime. I'm in charge of the reinforcements that were sent to help with any remaining Decepticons."

"I'm gonna need a list of everyone you brought with you, pictures, and information on what they can do."

Rodimus was noticeably taken aback by Fanzone's attitude. "What? Why?"

Fanzone crossed his arms. "Because I've heard you're not exactly fond of organics, and we want to have some idea of what to do if there's an incident."

"Also, they're making us IDs," added Sari with a smirk. "It's kind of funny considering how small the cards are."

"That brings up the next order of business." Fanzone walked over to Sari and thrust a bag into her hands. "We've been getting complaints about your clothes. If you don't start wearing more, you're gonna get charged with indecent exposure."

Sari stared at Fanzone, her mouth open. "But these are the only clothes I have!"

"The station took up some donations for you."

Sari pulled a yellow sweater out of the bag. It was a bit big for her, but it looked like it would fit. She frowned at the texture. "Can I at least wear my regular outfit here?"

"I don't care what you do in the privacy of your home." In fact, he'd rather not know what people do in their homes. He'd found some creepy stuff during investigations. Fanzone then got as much information on the new bots as he could from Rodimus before leaving to find the other bots.

And then Ratchet reappeared with Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Prowl. They'd been working on repairs all day. Ratchet had gone to fetch them. "Hey, you guys got here faster than I thought," commented Bumblebee.

"Yeah, we were close to a space bridge," explained Rodimus.

"And what's your plan?" asked Ratchet.

"Kup wants to train most of ya, except for Ratchet and Wheeljack. My group will run routine patrols to look for the Decepticons you mentioned. Ratchet and Wheeljack can keep doing whatever they do, but they can help with patrols if they want to."

"What about repairs?" asked Bulkhead.

"Ratchet and Red Alert-"

"He meant the city," interrupted Ratchet. "Part of the deal we made was that we would help rebuild what the Decepticons destroyed."

Rodimus blinked. "Can't you…put it on hold?"

"No."

"Well, maybe you and Wheeljack-"

"No!" shouted everyone.

Rodimus recoiled. "What?"

"Wheeljack has an unfortunate tendency to make things explode," explained Prowl. "I don't think the humans would appreciate him blowing up their buildings…again."

That was news to Rodimus. "Then Ratchet-"

"I am not doing all that work alone," interrupted Ratchet.

And that was when Red Alert entered the room with Wasp and Swoop. Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Wasp's optics widened.

"Wasp?!"

"Bumbler?!"

Rodimus suddenly felt a throbbing pain in his processor and a chill ran up his spinal strut. Why did he suddenly feel like this assignment was going to be a lot more trouble than he originally thought?

_And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword._

"That one was kind of short," noted Vector.

KHGiggle shrugged. "Not a lot was going on…So, on to addressing reviews!"

"These are all from Fanatic97 I believe," said Vector. "The main gist was 'Who's gonna come and will Optimus be with them?'"

"Oh, I guess we don't need to answer that one."

"Also if Blackarachnia is going to appear."

"If Optimus is gonna be in this story, then of course Blackarachnia is gonna be in this story," said KHGiggle.

"And if you're going to use a Con medic called Flatline."

"…I've never actually heard of him before. The only Decepticon medics that come to mind are the Constructicons, Scalpel, and Knockout." KHGiggle thought a moment. "I might use him depending on his personality. I'll have to do some research first, but thankfully I won't be needing a Decepticon medic for a while."

Vector waved the datapad away. "Now, best get back to practicing for your job interview tomorrow."

"Fire away! I bet I can answer any workplace question you come up with!"

_This has been The Afterword._


	5. Garbage In, Garbage Out

It was a nice morning in Detroit. The moon was shining, not a cloud could be seen in the sky, there was garbage everywhere…

…Wait. Back up.

There was a bunch of garbage all over the place. It had been building up since Megatron had crashed every robot in the city, along with a lot of technology. This included the robots that normally cleaned up trash.

To make matters worse, it was five in the morning. That wouldn't have been a problem if Kup hadn't just arrived.

As soon as the clock hit five, an alarm went off throughout the base, waking up everyone and causing a bunch of crashes, shouting, and a small fire that was quickly put out.

"All you cadets report outside in the next five cycles or I'll have you running laps until you're stabilizing servos fall off!" Kup shouted through the speaker system that Wheeljack had managed to jury rig.

Rodimus groaned as he sat up. "I do not miss that part of basic training."

Pretty much everyone else seemed to share in his opinion. Silverbolt practically had to drag the Dinobots, and Bumblebee somehow fell into recharge while walking down the hall, only waking up because Wheeljack had decided to make sure no one had fallen behind.

Some of the other bots went back to sleep (mainly the younger ones) while the rest decided they might as well get up and get started.

"I'm gonna try making a TV today," said Wheeljack. "They don't make any in our size, and I don't see how it can explode."

Red Alert nodded absently. There had been a mention about Wheeljack's tendency to make things explode in more than one report, but she had yet to see it and wondered how a bot could cause something as simple as an energy converter explode. "And what are the other assignments for today?"

Rodimus was going over that in his processor. "Well, there will be patrols-"

"No there won't," interrupted Ratchet.

Rodimus frowned at the seeming insubordination. "And why not?"

"Because the roads are all blocked."

"…Excuse me?"

"What he means is that when Megatron came online, he somehow caused most of the machinery in the city to go offline and refuse to reactivate," explained Wheeljack. "Most of them have been scrapped. One of the side effects is a buildup of waste and garbage since the bots that take care of it are gone and most humans don't like touching the stuff due to the bacteria that incubates in the piles. It can make them sick, sort of like a virus, but less catastrophic most of the time. Anyway, the garbage build up has gotten so bad that the garbage has blocked all the roads and no one can drive, including us. We'll have to wait for the garbage to be cleared. It'll go faster if we help out. I might go help out later on, but I want to try and set up the TV since bored younglings are dangerous younglings."

Rodimus stared before slumping. "Okay, then we'll help clean the garbage." This was turning out to be a lot less glamorous than he'd expected.

Outside:

"My name is Kup! I will be your drill sergeant until you can survive a Decepticon attack! You may believe that you are already able to survive such an attack because of the recent incident, but I can tell you here and now that you are alive because of pure, dumb luck! Especially if Megatron was involved!"

By this point, it looked like Grimlock and Slag wanted to attack him. The other Dinobots didn't look too far behind. Sari was shooting them worried looks.

If Kup had noticed this, he didn't care. "Now, I want you to drop and give me 50!"

"50 what?" asked Snarl.

Kup facepalmed at the question. This could take a while. "50 transform ups."

"I can't fully transform," said Sari.

"What? Why not?"

"I don't know. I can only transform a few things."

"Then transform as far as you can."

"What transform up?" asked Sludge.

"You get on your servos and pedes and transform back and forth," explained Kup.

Grimlock snorted. "That sound stupid. We transform good already."

By the time Team Athenia (minus Red Alert and plus Ratchet) left, a large argument that seemed to include everyone had erupted. Rodimus briefly considered helping before the ground exploded for seemingly no reason. He promptly decided to leave them to it. Red Alert was going to have her work cut out for her as it was.

When Team Athenia reached inner Detroit, they were treated to the sight of countless piles of garbage piled up all over the place with people trying to avoid them or digging through them.

"We have to clean this up?!" screeched Wasp.

"The Sanitation Department is cleaning too," explained Ratchet. "Just put what you can in the large metal container." He promptly got started clearing the debris, not even bothering to use his magnets.

Rodimus picked up a servo full of garbage and looked at it. There was solid debris, like metal and plastic, but there was also rotten organic matter and some sort of slimy feeling stuff. "What's in this?"

"You don't wanna know," answered Ratchet without even bothering to look

Rodimus quickly dropped what he was holding into a container. He had a higher tolerance for gross stuff than most, but even this was a bit much.

A few hours later:

"What do you mean we don't get a lunch break?" demanded Sari.

"You don't need to refuel more than once a day," explained Kup like he was speaking to a small child.

"That's a normal Transformer," argued Sari. "Dad and I are not normal. He can get by on one animal a day, but my stomach can only hold so much food so I need to 'refuel' 2 or 3 times a day."

Normally, Kup would assume this was a bluff, but he didn't really know enough about techno-organics to say for sure. He activated his com link. _"Hey, Red Alert, how often do techno-organics need to refuel?"_

"_Once a day for Silverbolt, maybe two if he pushes himself. Sari needs to refuel multiple times in a day."_

Kup snorted. "Fine. Take five!" There were some groans of relief. "Make it quick. We have a lot of exercises to cover."

"Whoa!" shouted Sari.

Kup groaned. "Now what?"

"I think I just picked up a major Allspark spike!"

Kup would have called this a bluff as well…except her eyes were glowing, which was not normal. "Oh fine. Go get it, but you better come right back."

Sari saluted. "Yes sir!" She ran off.

Kup glanced at his internal chronometer. "Break's over! Get back to work! And no complaining!"

The signal Sari had picked up was coming from a particularly large shard that was buried under a pile of garbage on Detroit's west side. As the energy flared, it caused a rather odd effect. Various pieces of junk gravitated towards it and started to form a more humanoid shape before a servo abruptly shot out of the pile.

It was followed shortly by another, and then a head that resembled an old TV was pulled out. The new bot looked around in confusion for a few moments before pulling the rest of himself out of the pile of garbage. The new bot scratched his head. "Uh…What am I supposed to do now?"

At that point, a police car drove by. Written on the side was 'To protect and serve'.

In the new mech's mind that meant 'We're here to help.' "Wait!" He ran after the car, trash spilling out of his backpack the whole time.

Team Athenia was still digging through garbage when Red Alert contacted them. _"Hey, I got intel that there's an active shard nearby. Sari's coming to direct you to it."_

"Dibs!"

"Dibs!"

"Di-Slaggit!" Hot Shot had hoped to get out of garbage duty.

"Right, come back when you've found it," said Rodimus, who was aware that the shard was probably buried under even more garbage. "And don't try to kick Sari again. The Dinobots are hardly tolerating us as it is."

"I still don't get why we have to work with them," muttered Ironhide. "None of those bots are even trained."

"Didn't you go to boot camp with Bumblebee and Bulkhead?" asked Rodimus.

"They got kicked out so they don't count."

Elsewhere:

The new bot had finally managed to catch up to the police car, mainly because the car had had to slow down to swerve around some garbage. He'd managed to grab the car. "Hi! I was wondering if you could help me."

"You are interfering with a police investigation. Cease and desist at once."

"Um, okay." He had no idea what 'cease and desist' meant though. He just put the car back on the ground, and it drove off. "Maybe I can find someone else to help me…"

He promptly wandered off.

A little later:

"Okay, I'm here!" shouted Sari. She would've been there sooner, but she had to change clothes to an orange sweater, black pants, and flip flops.

"What took you so long?" complained Wasp.

"I don't have a vehicle mode," deadpanned Sari. "Now, let's get started." She looked at the two Autobots expectantly. They looked back. Sari frowned. "Transform so I can hitch a ride and direct you to the Allspark."

Ironhide made a face. "Can't you just tell us where it is?"

Sari sighed. "Look, I think it's gross too, but the shard's moving around, and even if it wasn't, I don't know the names of any of these places so it would be really difficult to give you directions. So unless you want someone else to find it first, I suggest you suck it up."

Ironhide and Wasp had a quick competitive game of some kind to decide who had to put up with Sari. Wasp lost.

Sari took a moment to wonder why Wasp had the same alt mode as Bumblebee before climbing in. "Okay, it feels like it's coming from the east. Try heading in that direction first."

They listened to that much at least. Things went downhill from there since no one in the group knew the traffic laws. Okay, Sari knew some basic stuff like green means go, red means stop, you stop when you see a stop sign, etc. She communicated this information to her…chauffeurs.

How much they picked up could be debated. They got pulled over so many times, Sari found she was actually glad that she could say she was riding around in a robot. Things would've been so awkward if she'd had to produce some sort of identification.

"Why are there so many stupid driving laws?" asked Wasp. "They're acting like we're idiots!"

"These laws were made with human drivers in mind," explained Sari. "Humans aren't as aware of their surroundings and don't have as good reflexes. You could probably survive a crash, but the human, which would probably be the one to cause the crash, probably wouldn't. They're just too fragile."

"Then they should just find some other way to get around."

Sari rolled her eyes. "You ever tried walking in another person's shoes?"

"I don't wear shoes, stupid."

Sari facepalmed. "It's a figure of speech. It means-Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Wasp screeched to a stop, Ironhide nearly ramming into him. "What's the big idea?!" shouted a peeved Ironhide.

Sari didn't answer. She just jumped out of Wasp and ran down the road to stop and stare down a side street. Wasp and Ironhide transformed and walked over to see what had caught her attention.

"And then they were like boom! Boom! Boom!"

"That sounds really cool!"

Standing there was a Transformer having an animated conversation with a little girl that looked disturbingly familiar to Sari.

Let's rewind a few minutes:

Nancy was picking through garbage. This was something her parents would obviously freak out over, but she'd gotten the hang of it after watching those guys in the funny clothes shifting through the piles. A lot of it was just trash, but some of the stuff looked like it could be useful to Soundwave.

Besides, Ravage was slinking in the shadows and keeping an optic on her. He'd react if she was in danger or hurt.

As if summoned by that thought, the ground started shaking. Nancy looked around in confusion and saw an orange robot with a backpack of garbage running down the street.

A normal person would've stayed out of the way and avoided being noticed. Nancy was decidedly abnormal. "Hi Mr. Robot!"

The garbage bot somehow managed to freeze midstride and immediately zeroed in on her. He gave her a friendly smile. "Hello little girl!"

"Are you a Transformer?"

"What's a Transformer?"

"A robot that can turn into cars and stuff."

The garbage bot decided to see if he could transform. It turned out he could. He turned into a garbage truck. He turned back to robot mode after figuring that out. "I'm a Transformer!"

"Cool! My name's Nancy. What's yours?"

The bot tilted his head. "What's a name?"

"It's what people call you."

"Oh. I'm called 'Worthless wreck, walking pile of garbage'." Wreck-gar had caused some accidents during his adventures.

Nancy frowned. "That's not a nice name. How 'bout Wreck-gar instead?"

"Okay! I am Wreck-gar!"

"Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too! What are Transformers supposed to do?"

Nancy shrugged. "I dunno. There's a bunch living in the forest and they hunt and play and stuff. And there was one that was a ninja! He was cool. And there was a big robot fight. I got to watch. This one guy with no mouth was throwing things at a bigger robot. And they went boom! Boom! Boom!"

"That sounds really cool!" agreed Wreck-gar

"The Pit is that?" asked Ironhide.

"Hi other robots! Hi Sari!" greeted Nancy. Sari blinked as she finally figured out why Nancy seemed familiar.

Wreck-gar waved. "Hello! I am Wreck-gar! I am a transforming robot!"

"Yeah, we can see that," said Wasp. Really, it was obvious to anyone from Cybertron. "Is there a point to this stop?"

"He's the source of the signal," explained Sari.

"Right, hand over the shard," said Ironhide.

Wreck-gar smiled. "Okay!" He pulled out a bunch of pieces of junk. "Metal, plastic, or ceramic?"

"Allspark," said Wasp.

Wreck-gar blinked. "What's an Allspark?"

"I said he's the source of the signal," repeated Sari. "He's the one giving off Allspark energy."

"I am Wreck-gar! I give off Allspark energy!" Wreck-gar immediately started glowing.

"You gotta be kidding me! What happened to the shard?!" shouted Wasp.

"Uh, maybe there was enough machinery in a pile of garbage for it to put together a new Transformer?" suggested Sari. "I'm pretty sure his head is an old TV…"

"I am Wreck-gar! I have a TV for a head!"

"Stop repeating everything we say!" shouted Wasp.

"Okay." Wreck-gar stopped glowing.

"So instead of an Allspark fragment, we got a bot made of garbage?" asked Ironhide. "What a rip off."

"Hey, the more Autobots, the better," argued Sari.

"I am Wreck-gar! I am an Autobot!" He pulled the symbol out of his backpack and slapped it on his chassis.

Where did he even get that?

"You're joking, right?" said Wasp. "Look at him! He's garbage! Literally! I bet the only thing he's good for is garbage!"

"Garbage?" asked Wreck-gar. And that was when his screwy processor came to an odd conclusion. "I'm only good for garbage!" he said with a smile.

With that declaration made, Wreck-gar transformed back into his vehicle mode. He then used the lift arms to throw enough garbage to bury the three confronting him in a pile of garbage. He then drove off, dumping garbage out of his back the whole time.

Nancy had just enough time to wonder where Wreck-gar kept all that garbage before the two angry mechs burst out of the garbage, transformed, and chased after Wreck-gar. After a couple of moments, Sari managed to get out as well. She twitched when she realized she'd been left behind. "Why am I not surprised?" She turned to Nancy. "So…how have you been?"

"Good."

"Why are you digging through the garbage?"

"I'm looking for machine parts!"

Sari raised an eyebrow before shrugging. "Well, you shouldn't. There's some pretty nasty stuff in there. You could get sick."

Nancy seemed to deflate. "Okay."

"Do you want me to walk you home?"

"No, I'm good."

"Okay, then if you'll excuse me, I need to find Ironhide and Wasp and yell at them for leaving me behind." Sari started running after the trail of garbage. At least Wreck-gar had left an obvious trail.

It was at that point that Ravage darted out of an ally, got Nancy on his back, and ran for the nearest manhole. Not that Sari noticed.

"I can't believe they left me behind," muttered Sari. "I know it's gross, but that's no excuse!" Sari huffed. "This would be so much easier on everyone if I could move at the same speed as the others."

And that was when the familiar sound and feel of transforming came from Sari's feet. Sari froze and looked down. Her feet and lower legs had transformed up to her knees. They were the orange and yellow scheme, like the other transformations, and had glowing blue structures that looked sort of like ice skates. The flip flops were completely destroyed, but Sari didn't really care about those.

Sari experimentally pushed against the ground with one foot and glided forward over the ground. Huh, okay, let's see if she can get the hang of this…

Decepticon base:

"Any idea how long they're going to be gone?" asked Oil Slick.

"It depends on how quickly they are able to retrieve the shard," answered Megatron, watching the screen. The signal was going all over the place with no rhyme or reason. Someone must have picked it up. "Did you need Cyclonus for something?"

"Spittor keeps opticing the humans."

Megatron turned and saw that Spittor was looking at the humans in a way that Megatron had learned to associate with Spittor eating something he shouldn't. The humans had figured out what the look meant as well, and all work had come to a stop as they had a staring contest with Spittor.

It suddenly occurred to Megatron that Cyclonus had spent all of his spare time keeping an optic on the humans. Megatron had thought the seeker was making sure they were working, but now he was starting to think it had been to keep them from being eaten.

Megatron decided to solve this by grabbing Spittor, hoisting him up, and giving him a look that would terrify anyone. "If you so much as think about eating the humans, you'll need to have more than just your stabilizing servos reattached. Do I make myself clear?" Spittor nodded with wide optics. "Good. Now get out of my sight." Megatron dropped Spittor, who immediately ran out as quickly as he could. Megatron turned his attention to the humans. "Get back to work."

Autobot base:

"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Kup.

Grimlock, who'd suddenly decided to leave, turned back. "This stupid. Me Grimlock do something else."

Kup ground his Cy-gar. "You do not get to decide when you're done! You only leave when I say you can, and you are not leaving until the sun sets if I have my way!"

Silverbolt facepalmed as Grimlock started growling. It wasn't obvious since Cybertronians didn't have to deal with such things, but Grimlock was an Alpha. It took a lot to get him to listen to you.

Grimlock listened to Sari because she was his mother and he loved her.

Grimlock listened to Prowl because he thought he was his father and loved him too.

Grimlock listened to Silverbolt because Silverbolt could beat him in a fight.

The fact that Grimlock had put up with Kup for so long could be considered a miracle. Well, it was gonna happen sooner or later. Might as well be sooner rather than later.

Which was why Silverbolt did nothing to stop Grimlock from attacking the drill sergeant.

Kup let out a curse that would make a sailor blush and only just managed to parry with his ax. He was then punched back several feet.

"Should we stop them?" asked Bumblebee. "'Cause I don't really want to get between those two."

"No," said Silverbolt.

"You sure?" asked Bulkhead.

"Grimlock respects strength. Kup must prove strength," explained Silverbolt. "Is only way."

"What about you guys?" asked Bulkhead.

"I prove strength," deadpanned Silverbolt.

"He thinks I'm his father," reminded Prowl as he made sure Slag didn't join in. The Triceratops seemed to like fighting a little too much.

"Well, in that case…" Bumblebee cupped his servos around his mouth. "Go Grimlock!"

"Should we at least call someone?" asked Bulkhead. "It looks like Grimlock is trying to rip off Kup's servos."

"…Probably," admitted Silverbolt.

Detroit:

Somehow, Wreck-gar had managed to lose Ironhide and Wasp. He hadn't been trying to. He hadn't even realized they were following him. Really, he was just driving around at random while dumping out the crud he had in his backpack. The fact that the trails cross at several points was complete coincidence and inevitable given the amount of time he'd been driving around like a lunatic.

He'd somehow missed Rodimus, Brawn, Hot Shot, and Ratchet too, and as Ironhide and Wasp had yet to call for help…

Wreck-gar was currently free to do whatever since the street was too clogged for a normal car to chase him.

Airborne vehicles on the other hand…

"I am picking up the shard," announced Lugnut. Cyclonus let out a grunt, not caring that much about it. He was only doing this because Megatron had ordered him to accompany Lugnut. Lugnut zoomed in on the vehicle that was producing the energy and realized it was a garbage truck. "That vehicle is not worthy to possess Megatron's shard!"

It occurred to Cyclonus that the shards didn't really belong to anyone. Then he decided that even if he did care enough to say so, Lugnut wouldn't listen. Instead, he just followed Lugnut's example and dropped down in front of the garbage truck while transforming. "Hand over the Allspark shard human!" demanded Lugnut.

"No humans here!" The garbage truck suddenly transformed into Wreck-gar. "Just me!"

Lugnut had to blink at that. "Who are you?"

"I am Wreck-gar! I am only good for garbage!"

"…Are you an Autobot?"

Cyclonus looked Wreck-gar over and noted there were no identifying markers. "He's not an Autobot."

"…Then you must be a Decepticon!" reasoned Lugnut.

"I am Wreck-gar! I…" Wreck-gar paused before pulling out a Decepticon symbol and slapping it on his chassis where his Autobot sticker had been before. "Must be a Decepticon!"

Cyclonus frowned. "That's not-"

"All hail Megatron!" shouted Lugnut, hefting his servo towards the sky.

Wreck-gar copied him with a stop sign. "All hail Megatron!" Wreck-gar frowned. "Uh, what's a Megatron?"

Fortunately, before Lugnut could go off on a rant about Megatron, Wasp and Ironhide finally caught up. They transformed as soon as they saw the other two mechs. "Decepticons!"

"Attack!"

Cyclonus was already attacking by the time Lugnut gave the order. Wreck-gar on the other hand…

"Sure thing! Thumb tacks?" He opened one servo to reveal said tacks. "Carpet tacks?" He opened the other servo, which had more tacks. He put his hands together and pulled them apart to reveal a piece of paper with lots of numbers on it, the tacks nowhere to be seen. "Income tax?"

By that point, Cyclonus had managed to slice off both of Wasp's stingers and stab him through the chassis. Ironhide wasn't missing any limbs due to his 'iron' skin, but Cyclonus had managed to slip his swords through Ironhide's seams and do who knows how much damage to his internals. The two never had a chance.

That was when Sari had shown up.

Once she'd gotten the hang of her 'skates', Sari had found she could travel much faster with them. Combined with her tracking skills, she'd managed to catch up to the mechs that had left her behind.

None of the bots noticed the small techno-organic, which allowed her to activate a distress beacon Wheeljack had given her in case of an emergency. Then she ran forward as quickly as she could and sliced her tonfa through the bottom of Cyclonus's stabilizing servo.

Cyclonus jumped slightly before looking down. "You?"

As the tonfa probably weren't going to be too effective, Sari decided to switch to blasters and fired at him. Cyclonus blocked the attack but didn't move to counterattack. He just kept staring at Sari, like he was trying to figure out what she was.

"Bah!" Lugnut was getting very impatient. "Impudent Autobots!" He formed his P.O.K.E.

Wreck-gar reacted as only Wreck-gar could. "Ah! The universal greeting! Bah weep graaaaagnah ni ni bong," intoned Wreck-gar as he made several odd hand gestures. Lugnut blinked at the odd display.

Sari and Cyclonus realized what was going to happen and dove for cover behind the nearest available object right before Wreck-gar slapped the pressure sensor.

*FWOOM!*

As Sari peered out from around Ironhide, all she could think was that it was a good thing this area seemed deserted. She hoped anyone around had done the sensible thing upon seeing the Decepticons and gotten out of there.

Cyclonus was thinking about how annoying it was that Lugnut had damaged him with that attack. He was starting to understand why Strika was usually his partner. She could actually get hit by the shockwave without being damaged. Although he didn't appear damaged to the extent that he would be unable to fight…

Almost as soon as Cyclonus thought that, his right servo fell off and the stabilizing servo Sari had sliced started sparking painfully. "Of forget it." He grabbed his arm and flew off.

Lugnut didn't even notice. "Those Autobots shall pay!" he declared, despite the fact he'd caused that damage.

Wreck-gar, who was oddly unharmed, pulled out a cash register. "Paper, plastic, or charbroiled?"

Lugnut finally decided that Wreck-gar was too annoying to deal with. "Never mind…" He started towards the two downed Autobots.

Sari darted out from behind Ironhide. "Don't come any closer!"

Lugnut paused. He was fairly certain that Sari was supposed to be brought in online, but he was no good at that sort of thing.

Sari was trying to think of a way to at least slow Lugnut down without any help. She was no fool. She was aware she was at a distinct disadvantage against a normal Cybertronian. That was why she'd needed to stay with Ironhide and Wasp, but those two bozos had run off and left her behind!

Sari was saved from the impossible task of taking on Lugnut when sirens split the air, heralding the arrival of the rest of the group.

Brawn immediately tackled Lugnut. It didn't do much due to the size difference, but at least it distracted Lugnut enough for Rodimus and Hot Shot to join in on the attack.

Ratchet screeched to a stop next the two downed mechs and immediately got to work. "What happened here?"

"There was another Decepticon with swords," explained Sari. "I didn't see what he did with Wasp, but when I was coming up, I saw him stabbing Ironhide. I think it was through his seams."

Ratchet nodded. He'd noticed the energon leaking from Ironhide despite a lack of visible wounds. His injuries were likely more serious. "I'm gonna work on Ironhide. Clamp Wasp's energon lines for me." He tossed some clamps to Sari.

Sari stared at the clamps for a second before rushing to do what he said. She didn't know a thing about Cybertronian medicine, but she figured she could find the energon lines at least.

Ratchet had a much harder task ahead of him. First he had to get all Ironhide's armor off, which wasn't too tricky. However, Ironhide's internals were a complete mess. Ratchet could patch them up, but Ratchet needed to get Ironhide back to base and the rest of the medical supplies.

Watching all this with a clueless smile on his face was Wreck-gar, at least until Hot Shot noticed him and realized there was a Decepticon symbol on his chest. He shot some fire at Wreck-gar, who jumped back. "Hi Mr. Fire Man! I am Wreck-gar! I must be a Decepticon, and I have no idea who Megatron is!"

Hot Shot paused. "Huh?"

That was when the Decepticon symbol fell off Wreck-gar. He fingered the spot with a frown. "I need better stickers."

"Stickers?" Now Hot Shot was confused. Decepticons don't have stickers. They get branded. "You sure you're a Decepticon?"

Wreck-gar grinned. "Nope!"

"Hot Shot! A little help here?!" shouted Rodimus.

Hot Shot looked over and saw that Lugnut had managed to grab Rodimus and was trying to crush him. Brawn had managed to climb up and was trying to pry his arms apart. "Just…Go stand with them, okay?" said Hot Shot, pointing at the injured/medic party.

"Okay!" Wreck-gar ambled over while Hot Shot ran to help his comrades. He looked over Ratchet's shoulder. "Why are his metal noodles leaking?"

That comment was so random that it actually gave Ratchet pause. "They're his internals, and if I don't stop their leaking, he is going to deactivate! Now give me some space!"

Even Wreck-gar can recognize when you need to listen to Ratchet.

Meanwhile, Sari was trying to figure out how to clamp the energon lines in Wasp's chest The ones in his servos had been easy, but there was a big one in his chest that was pumping with enough force that Sari couldn't get a good hold of it. She growled as she grabbed both pieces of the energon line. She was promptly covered in energon. "A little help here?!" Her hands suddenly flared. Sari reflexively closed her eyes. She opened them and blinked in surprise. The severed energon line was whole again.

…She'd figure that out when they weren't in danger of being killed. "I think I got them all!" announced Sari. "Now what?"

"See if you can clamp the smaller lines in Ironhide!"

Sari practically dove into his torso. It looked like Ratchet had gotten all the major energon lines clamped already. Sari experimentally tried to repeat whatever she'd done with the smaller energon lines.

Nothing. Weird…Sari went back to clamping. She'd try to figure it out when everyone was safe.

Wreck-gar was starting to wander over towards the fight. Ratchet noticed and quickly pulled him back towards him. "Don't do that!"

"Okay Mr. Grumpy Pants!"

A small huff that might have been a laugh came from Ironhide's torso. "He's got you pegged!"

"Less talking more clamping!"

Let's go back to the fight.

"You will never defeat the unmovable Lugnut! Not so long as I-"

"_Lugnut, retreat."_

Lugnut froze. _"But why?"_

"_Because the shard has fused with a mech that's even more insane than Blitzwing. We don't know how to remove it from a living bot, and I don't want him and Blitzwing meeting."_

Lugnut could understand that. He'd figured out Wreck-gar wasn't all there around the time that he'd started pulling out tacks. Lugnu shook off Brawn, transformed, and took off.

Rodimus took the opportunity to fire some more arrows. They hit their target, but Lugnut's armor was too thick for it to bother him. Rodimus frowned in annoyance before joining the rest over to the side. "How are they?"

"If I do not get Ironhide back to the base and operate, he is not going to survive!"

"Bulkhead's big enough. I'll call him," said Rodimus.

"There's no time!" Ratchet paused as his optics went to Wreck-gar. "Transform."

"Okay!" The junk bot obediently transformed. Ratchet looked his container over for a moment. Deciding it was big enough, Ratchet took a large cloth out of his subspace to put over the garbage before placing Ironhide in the container. "Sari, make sure to keep his lines clamped."

"Right!"

He pointed at Wasp. "Don't move him. Call Bulkhead and have him transport him like you planned." Ratchet gave Wreck-gar a look. "You are going to follow me or I'm reformatting you into a toaster!"

"I like toast!"

Ratchet didn't bother to respond. He just transformed and drove off, sirens blazing, with Wreck-gar following close behind.

Autobot base:

"Is this gonna be a regular occurrence?" asked Red Alert as she replaced the armor on Kup's arm.

Kup gave Grimlock the stink optic. "It better not."

Grimlock was in robot mode and was being pinned by Silverbolt. The fight had apparently ended training for the day. Prowl had disappeared to somewhere, Snarl was sleeping in dino mode, Sludge was wrestling with Slag, Swoop was watching Red Alert repair Kup's arm, and Bumblebee, Flareup, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack were repairing a destroyed wall.

The wall had been destroyed by Wheeljack's experiment. The only one who'd been surprised by this was Red Alert.

"_I need Bulkhead to come to these coordinates," _Rodimus suddenly commed. _"Ironhide and Wasp were badly injured fighting Decepticons. Ratchet is currently en route with Ironhide, but we need to transport for Wasp."_

Bulkhead immediately transformed and shot off as quickly as he could. Red Alert stopped all work on Kup's arm and ran for the medical bay. Swoop made to follow her, but was grabbed by Kup. "Don't follow. You'll just get in their way."

Swoop made a disappointed sound but didn't argue. "Why medic lady run away?"

"She needs to prep the med bay."

"Why?"

"For Ironhide. Didn't you hear the com?" Swoop's blank look answered that. "You're still not using your com links?" asked Kup, his voice full of disbelief.

"Swoop not want voices in his head."

Well, that was one more thing to take care of. How were they supposed to get the Dinobots to use their com links?

Shortly afterwards, Ratchet came roaring in with a garbage truck close behind. Ratchet grabbed Ironhide from the garbage truck and ran into the base.

Kup vented. The first battle on Earth, and this happened. He'd like to say he was surprised, but he wasn't.

Sludge wandered over and snuffled the truck. It promptly transformed into a sort of shoddy looking mech. Kup's processor screeched to a halt. What. The. Frag?

"Hello! I am Wreck-gar!"

Sludge changed to her robot mode and smiled. "Me Sludge."

"Nice to meet you!"

"Why you look funny?"

Wreck-gar shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I look funny because I am funny."

Sludge nodded. That made perfect sense. "Why you have smelly stuff?"

"Because I am only good for garbage."

"What that mean?"

Wreck-gar handed Sludge a clump of garbage. "Here you go."

Sludge stared. "Sludge not get it."

Inside, Sari had just stumbled out of the med bay, covered in energon, coolant, and what else. She was just shucking off her sweater when Silverbolt scooped her up and started sniffing at her. "Dad! I'm fine! Really!"

Silverbolt drew back a bit. "You sure?"

Sari nodded. "One of them made a big explosion right after I arrived. I ducked behind Ironhide, and it damaged the other 'Con enough for him to fly off. The big one didn't seem like he knew what to do with me…"

Silverbolt hesitated, looking her over some more. "No blood…"

"Yeah, so can I please go take a shower? I feel gross." Sari had been covered in all sorts of nasty substances over the years, but this stuff was covering her completely and made her feel slimy.

Silverbolt nodded and placed Sari on the ground. Sari continued to the showers, messily removing her ruined pants along the way. Silverbolt glanced briefly glanced at the closed door of the med bay and glanced at his hands. There were a few smears of energon from where he'd been holding Sari. He licked it off, wincing at the taste, before heading back outside.

Back outside:

"…And that's what they mean by taking out trash," finished Flareup.

"Oh…" Wreck-gar looked around at the mess he'd caused. "So you're supposed to pick up the garbage instead of spread it?"

Flareup nodded. "Yeah, garbage all over the place is unsanitary."

"Got it." Wreck-gar took the garbage back from Sludge. "Sorry Sludge."

"It okay."

"Then I'm gonna pick up all the garbage!" Wreck-gar took out what appeared to be a vacuum cleaner attached to his backpack. "Be back in a bit." He ambled off, happy as could be.

"…I'm just gonna keep an optic on him." Flareup transformed and followed after him.

"Is he gonna end up living here?" asked Bumblebee.

Kup huffed. "Probably."

"Are all the Allspark shards going to make new bots?" continued Bumblebee.

"…The Allspark makes sparks."

Bumblebee thought about how many shards there had to be out there. "Wow, it's gonna get crowded."

That was when the rest of the team came screeching to a halt in front of the base. Rodimus and Hot Shot transformed and carefully pulled Wasp out of Bulkhead's back and carried him inside. Brawn paused long enough to grab Wasp's stingers and raced in after them.

"…Is that gonna keep happening?" asked Bumblebee.

"It will if everyone doesn't shape up," muttered Kup.

Decepticon base:

"Done."

Cyclonus rotated his stabilizing servo just to be sure. It certainly felt back to normal. "Thank you."

Penelope blinked. "You're welcome." Well, at least one of these guys had manners. She climbed back up to the platform. "So, how are we coming along?"

"How do you think?" grouched Masterson.

Penelope sighed. "We're never gonna finish this, are we?"

Much later, Autobot base:

Ratchet sighed as he sat down on his berth. He hadn't had to work like that since the war. It brought up a lot of unpleasant memories. His flashbacks were interrupted by a knock on his door. "What?"

Bumblebee poked his head in. "How ya doin'?"

"I'd be doing better if I was left alone."

"Wheeljack said not to leave you alone if you said that."

Ratchet muttered some choice words about the engineer. Bumblebee sat down next to Ratchet. "So are Ironhide and Wasp going to be okay?"

"They'll live. Wasp'll be up and about in a solar cycle or so but will need another few solar cycles to make sure his welds hold and are integrated properly. I'm keeping Ironhide on bed rest until I'm sure his wounds don't reopen."

"Well, I have good news," said Bumblebee, hoping to cheer up Ratchet. "Wreck-gar cleaned up a lot of Detroit. He came back eventually and Rodimus gave him a room and Wheeljack is going on about adding on rooms to the base to keep it from getting crowded."

Ratchet narrowed his optics. "You tell him he better stick to the ground floor! Engineers are not the same thing as architects!" The last thing they needed was for Wheeljack to destroy their base.

"Flareup said the same thing," said Bumblebee. "And Bulkhead. And Kup. And Sari. And she hasn't known him for that long…Anyway, Wheeljack said he'd stick to the ground floor, and he probably won't blow anything up. We just have to finish repairing the damage he created earlier when something blew up."

Ratchet huffed. "How long are you going to stay here?"

"…" Bumblebee shrugged. "I don't know. You seemed really upset by what happened to Wasp and Ironhide. I thought you'd like some company."

Ratchet was silent before huffing in irritation and rolling over. Bumblebee took that as an okay and continued talking about his day.

_And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword._

"This was an…odd chapter."

"It has Wreck-gar. What'd you expect?"

Vector nodded. "True. Chaos does seem to follow him, no matter what the iteration. Now, onto business."

"The reason Wreck-gar ran into Nancy is because she's Nancy," explained KHGiggle. "Think about it and it'll make sense."

"Cyclonus can take on both Wasp and Ironhide. There is no doubt of this, especially with their current combat skills."

"Wreck-gar didn't end up at the bottom of the river because there were no garbage eating nanites. He didn't have to do any saving. Unfortunately, Wreck-gar's hard to write if you're not a professional screwball," admitted KHGiggle. "So we're making him a full-time employee of the sanitation department."

"Wasp and Ironhide's injuries are worse than they sound. Ratchet's just that good." Vector put away. "That is all for this week. We will see you next week."

_This has been The Afterword._


	6. Hybrids

"Can you pass me that I-beam?" asked Hot Shot.

Brawn threw an I-beam up at Hot Shot, who was up in the building frame. "That should be the last of 'em."

"Great. I had no idea it would take so long to do these repairs without Wasp and Ironhide. I wish Kup would let some of the repair crew help us out. The probably know more about this thean we do."

Brawn shrugged. "Kup's pretty stubborn. It'd take a lot for him to let one of them skip training for anything." Brawn looked around the darkened city. Brawn always felt a bit nervous during the night cycle. Too many surprise attacks during the war.

"What about Sari?" asked Hot Shot. "He lets her have breaks."

"She can locate the Allspark shards so she doesn't count." Even Kup could admit that the Allspark was more important than training a single bot.

Hot Shot nodded. "How'd that happen anyway?"

Brawn shrugged. "Some bots have weird abilities. I don't question it. Would be sur-" Brawn stopped suddenly as he noticed something crouching over behind a pile of pipes.

Hot Shot looked down. "Something wrong?"

"Thought I heard something. Hold on a klik." Brawn quietly made his way over to the shape, making sure to stay in a fighting stance. It was moving slightly, so Brawn was sure it was alive. It looked too small to be a Decepticon, but Brawn wasn't take any chances. "Hey! What're you doing?"

The shape tensed up for a split second before leaping at Brawn with a yowl. Brawn instinctively lashed out with a fierce right hook that made a loud cracking sound. His attacker was sent flying into the building frame with a sickening thud.

By that time, Hot Shot had climbed down and was next to Brawn. "You okay?"

"Yeah…" Brawn frowned. "That thing was…soft. I think it was an organic." He turned on his headlights to get a better look at his attacker.

It had a huge, misshapen orange torso covered in fur. Its mouth was full of fangs. Its ears were huge and triangular. It had a pair of black, membranous wings growing out of its back. The hands and feet were covered in green scales with claws at the end. It had large, yellow eyes that were staring blankly ahead.

Brawn and Hot Shot didn't know much about the local wildlife, but this just looked unnatural, like this was something that shouldn't exist. Just looking at it made them feel sick.

"What is it?" whispered Hot Shot.

Brawn shrugged. "I'm calling the human enforcers. This is their jurisdiction."

Within a few minutes, several police cruisers were present, and crime scene tape was being set up. Captain Fanzone had come as well and took a minute to examine the creature. "Yep, it's dead."

"What is it?" asked Hot Shot.

"Chimera."

Hot Shot blinked. "Chimera?"

"You know drug addicts?" asked Fanzone. Brawn and Hot Shot nodded. One thing Cybertronians had in common with humans were mind altering substances. Brawn himself had known several bots that had become addicts after the Great War was over. "Well, Chimera are guys addicted to altering their bodies by injecting animal DNA into their bodies."

Hot Shot's optics widened. "That's a human?!"

Fanzone waved a hand. "It's kind of iffy with these guys."

"What was it doing here?" asked Brawn.

"Where did you first see it?" asked Fanzone. Brawn gestured towards the pipes. Fanzone took a moment to study them. "These are copper. Lots of people will steal copper, especially if they're addicts. He was probably trying to sneak off with some pipes when you saw him."

"Why would anyone do that to themselves?" asked Hot Shot.

Fanzone shrugged. "No idea." He pulled out a notepad. "Now, tell me what happened."

"I saw something over by the pipes. I went over and asked what it was doing. Then it jumped me and I reacted. When we got a good look and figured out it was organic, we decided it was your jurisdiction and contacted you."

Fanzone nodded and looked at Hot Shot. "I was up in the building frame and only got down after Brawn punched it."

"Right, sounds simple enough." Fanzone closed his notepad.

"That's it?" asked Hot Shot. "I thought the investigation would be more complicated."

"It will be, but you're just witnesses so you're not gonna be that involved," explained Fanzone.

Suddenly a fancy white car screeched up to the scene. A blond man in a white suit jumped out and ran over to the Chimera. He cursed when he got a look at it. "It's dead!"

"You're still getting the body," said Fanzone.

"It's no good to me like this! I can't even identify the individual!"

"Is this one of your forensic scientists?" asked Brawn.

The man seemed to notice the Autobots for the first time. He scoffed and glared at them. "I beg your pardon. I am a molecular geneticist, not a forensic investigator!"

"Prometheus Black is the one who developed the technology that's used to modify Chimeras," explained Fanzone.

"They're not chimeras," interrupted Black.

Fanzone frowned. "Oh no, I am not arguing medical terms with you! I have enough to deal with as it is!"

Black rolled his eyes and returned to studying the dead body.

"We'll just be leaving then," said Brawn, transforming and heading down the road. Hot Shot spared the Chimera one last glance before following Brawn's example.

"Damn robots," muttered Black.

"So, what can you tell me?" asked Fanzone.

"It definitely has feline and bat DNA. Some sort of reptile as well." Black lifted a leg. "Probably female, I'll have to dissect to be sure. It looks like its neck was broken and its skull was partially crushed."

"Yeah, that was the shorter one's work," explained Fanzone. "He's got a mean right hook."

Black growled. "Tell them not to kill the spliced subjects next time. I can't figure out a safe way to reverse this if the available subjects are all dead!"

"Hey, you've seen how these things act!" protested Fanzone. "They'll kill anything they think is a threat, and I'm not willing to risk my men's lives like that!"

The two had a stare off before Black abruptly stood. "I'll be in my lab. I expect the specimen to be delivered as soon as possible." His piece said, Black walked back over to his car and left.

Fanzone groaned. "I hate dealing with bigwigs." Almost as much as machines.

Autobot base:

"This planet doesn't have any interesting programming," complained Wasp as he channel surfed.

"We could watch music videos," suggested Bumblebee.

"No way."

Flareup groaned. "Will you just choose something already?"

Sari rolled her eyes from where she was leaning against Silverbolt, who was curled up next to the couch. "Just turn it off. There's better stuff to do than watch TV."

"Like what?" snapped Wasp.

"Read a book, stargaze, get some sleep, that sort of thing."

That was when Brawn and Hot Shot walked in. Silverbolt's head shot up, surprising everyone. "Blood!" He looked around for a moment before zeroing in on Brawn. "Blood on you!"

Brawn looked down and realized there was some blood on his right servo. "Oh, must be from when I punched that Chimera."

"What's a chimera?" asked Bumblebee.

"A human that's modified their body using animal DNA," explained Flareup. "There was a report on the news network while we were hiding out. The practice is illegal because it usually kills the user or damages their mental capacity so that they become vicious or animalistic in their behavior. They also look really freaky, like a bunch of different animal parts got mashed together."

"Oh…So that's what those things are!" said Sari. "Weird animals like that would show up in the forest sometimes. Dad always insisted on burying them outside the forest for some reason."

"I thought you said they were humans," said Wasp.

"There's been some debate on whether to classify them as humans or animals," corrected Flareup as she eyed Silverbolt nervously. "Obviously, they started out as humans, but they don't act like it anymore."

"You're not gonna get in trouble for hurting one are ya?" asked Bumblebee.

"Doubt it," said Brawn. "The enforcers acted like it was a standard case of self-defense." He headed off. "I'm going to the washracks."

"How common are these Chimera things?" asked Hot Shot. "I figure they can't hurt us, but they're really freaky looking."

Flareup shrugged. "You'd have to ask an expert."

"Is there a Chimera expert?" asked Wasp.

Flareup paused. "Beats me. They've only popped up in the last decade."

"Oh! There was a guy who showed up while we were there who seemed like an expert!" said Hot Shot.

"Did you catch his name?" asked Bumblebee.

Hot Shot paused as he accessed his recent memories. "Prometheus Black."

"That name sounds familiar," mused Flareup as she took out a datapad. "Give me a klik to see if I can look him up."

For a moment, everyone went back to what they'd been doing. Bumblebee tried to grab the remote from Wasp, but Wasp pushed him away. Flareup gave them an annoyed look and moved to a chair. "Here he is. Looks like he's the chief executive officer and head scientist of a biotechnology company."

"A what?" asked Wasp.

"…I'm not actually sure what that means either," admitted Flareup. "I think it's got to do with upgrading humans without actually replacing any of their organic parts. He's also pretty anti-robot so you're definitely not gonna be able to talk to him."

Hot Shot blinked. "Oh…" Why would anyone dislike robots?

"If you're really that interested in the subject, do some research on your off time," suggested Flareup. "Just don't hack anything. We agreed not to do that unless we had permission from the police first."

"Okay." And Hot Shot thought that was the end of it.

The next day:

"So, I heard you and Hot Shot had some sort of weird run in yesterday," said Rodimus.

Brawn grunted as he carried over a pile of I-beams. "Wondered when you were gonna ask about that."

"You didn't write up a report," accused Rodimus.

"I'm waiting to see if the enforcers have any other questions," explained Brawn. "Besides, we're supposed to stay out of human affairs, and this isn't something the Decepticons would be interested in."

"How can you be sure?" insisted Rodimus.

Brawn snorted. "You kidding? Decepticons consider all organics inferior to them. They'd only be willing to work with 'em if they absolutely had to."

"Considering the circumstances, that may be the case," insisted Rodimus.

Brawn paused in thought for a moment. "Okay, you got a point, but why would they would need one of those Chimera things? They can't do any damage to us, and if the Cons want to sneak away any supplies, they've got a ninja of their own to take care of that."

Rodimus nodded. "Okay, you have a point, but…there's just something eerie about the idea, don't you think?"

Brawn shrugged. "Sure, but it's just another type of addict. They don't think straight and'll do anything for a fix."

"Flareup gave me a bunch of information on them," admitted Rodimus. "Why would anyone want to go through something that would probably kill them or drive them insane? And then go through it again and again until their bodies give out?"

Brawn shrugged. He was a soldier not a psychiatrist. He was no good at figuring out how someone thinks unless it was someone he'd known for vorns. "You'll have to ask someone else."

Rodimus groaned. "I tried that. I called Captain Fanzone, but he just said 'There's a lot of sick people out there.' And it sounds like there is an expert, but he hates robots so I can't…" Rodimus trailed off. "He hates robots."

"You already said that."

"Do you think it extends to half-robots?"

Brawn gave Rodimus a confused look before comprehension dawned on him and it shifted to disbelief. "You're kidding."

"Silverbolt and Sari are half organic. Sari is half human," said Rodimus. "Sort of robots but sort of not, and I haven't seen a scientist that's not interested in them. I bet Black would at least like the opportunity to see them for himself."

"Rodimus, will you please just drop it?" asked Brawn. "I get that you like being a hero, but there's not a lot we could do except maybe fight Chimera, and we'd need permission to do that…and I don't think I can pull my punches enough to not kill 'em."

"I just want to know about the subject in case it's brought up in a council meeting," defended Rodimus. "Most of the council members were pretty nervous about sending troops here. They're still debating if it would be a good idea to try and set up relations." Personally, Rodimus thought it was a good idea. This planet, along with others in the solar system, had plenty of viable energon sources. The sun alone had been enough to fuel the repair crew and Dinobots from what he'd heard. "Don't wanna get them turned off the prospect just because of a few bad apples."

Brawn gave Rodimus a weird look. "Bad apples?"

"I'm trying to pick up human sayings to make them more comfortable when we converse," explained Rodimus. "…I'm not sure I used that one correctly."

Brawn groaned. Looks like Rodimus was at it again. He'd have to tell Red Alert…and maybe Kup. The three of them should be able to keep Rodimus from doing anything too crazy.

The next couple of days were pretty normal. The police called Brawn a couple of times to ask a couple of questions, but never indicated that Brawn was in any trouble. Rodimus made several calls, but it wasn't until Saturday that they found out. Ratchet and Red Alert insisted that Kup let the 'trainees' have at least one day off for health reasons. Usually, the trainees would do something relaxing.

"You want us to go to Black Industries and ask about Chimeras?" deadpanned Sari.

"Yeah, I went through the proper channels and everything," said Rodimus.

Sari groaned. "You know, we did have plans today," said Sari. "And we're not your soldiers. You can't order us around."

"I will go," said Silverbolt. Sari gave him a surprised look. "I am…curious."

"About that…" Rodimus grinned nervously. "For some reason, Prometheus Black only agreed to see you if Sari was present for some reason."

Sari tensed up. "Are you serious?"

Rodimus nodded. "Yeah, he's supposed to really hate robots. Maybe it's because you look like a normal human?"

Sari groaned. "Fine, I'll go."

Rodimus grinned. "Great, he'll meet you at…" Rodimus trailed off when he remembered he couldn't send them coordinates. "Uh, he said he'd be in his lab…which is at the main company building."

"I know where it is," interrupted Sari. "Just…give me a couple of minutes to put on something else." Rodimus nodded and left.

Silverbolt licked Sari. "Worried?"

Sari slumped. "Depends. I don't have a good feeling about this…"

"It will be fine."

"I hope so…"

Once Sari had changed, the two left.

Black industries was a large futuristic building. Silverbolt wasn't small enough to fit inside, so he settled down outside to wait for Sari.

Sari looked around the lobby. The surfaces were all gleaming and looked expensive. The secretary was dressed to the nines. Sari looked down at her pink sundress and fingered her mask. She felt incredibly out of place. True, she'd felt out of place since returning to Detroit, but it was especially pronounced in this sort of environment. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the secretary. "Rodimus Prime says I have an appointment with Mr. Black."

The secretary looked her over, not bothering to hide her distaste. "And who should I say is here?"

"Sari, spelled S-A-R-I." Sari had enough experience to know that the secretary would misunderstand if she didn't spell it out for her.

The secretary nodded stiffly, typed a couple of buttons, and held down something on her phone. "Sir, a…Sari is here to see you."

"_Yes, yes, I'll be there in a minute."_

The secretary nodded stiffly. "Have a seat."

Sari looked at the seats that looked expensive and uncomfortable. "Thank you, but I think I'll stand."

This seemed to suit the secretary just fine. Sari stepped back a few feet. The silence felt like it could be cut with a butter knife.

Then Prometheus Black came in wearing one of his usual outfits and a pair of lab goggles. He zeroed in on Sari immediately and looked her over. He raised an eyebrow at her chosen outfit before grabbing her hand and practically dragging her away. "Now, I have a lot of work to do, so we'll beholding this meeting in my lab."

Sari gulped and reminded herself that she had blasters that could go through most materials.

Once they reached a very large room with all sorts of locks on the door Black let go of Sari. He forced a pair of goggles, a blue protective coat, and a pair of blue gloves into her arms before slipping on a coat himself. "Put those on."

Sari gave the items a confused look. "What?"

"It's lab policy. If you're in a lab you have to wear personal protective equipment."

Sari pulled on the coat and gloves. She hesitated with the goggles. "Can I skip the goggles?"

"Absolutely not." Sari put the goggles on over her mask. Black rolled his eyes. "Those are completely useless if you don't take off the mask."

"I'm not taking the mask off," growled Sari.

Prometheus Black rolled his eyes. "Oh please, I don't know why you're insisting on wearing that mask. It's obvious you're Sari Sumdac even with it obscuring most of your facial features."

Sari froze in horror. "You know?"

Black shrugged. "It's obvious. You have Indian features, but have red hair and eyes which is very unusual for your skin tone and would regularly require genetic modification. However, it's company policy to refuse modifications to anyone younger than 18 years of age unless it is a matter of life or death, and you have features that suggest you are an adolescent rather than an adult. Also, I did meet Isaac Sumdac before his death when I ordered my equipment. It's not obvious since you've taken care of your body much better than he did, but you do share facial features. It helps that he had several pictures of you. And Sari isn't exactly a common name. If you really want to hide your identity you might want to come up with an alias."

Sari stared at Black in shock. "You were able to get all that just by looking at me?"

Black shrugged carelessly. "Of course, it's not exactly difficult. Your features are very distinctive."

Sari stared at him for another minute before slipping her mask off and putting the goggles on correctly. "What do I have to do to keep you from telling anyone?"

That gave Black pause. He turned to look at her. "You don't want anyone to know your identity?"

"No."

Prometheus Black studied her for a moment. She certainly seemed sincere, and given the clothes she wore and the sinewy body so different from her father's…It painted a rather interesting and damning picture. "Very well. I have absolutely no desire to reveal your identity…for the moment." Black smirked. "Powell's doing plenty of damage to Sumdac Industries on his own."

Sari nodded before looking around. "Anyway, Rodimus wanted me to ask you about Chimera-"

"They're not chimera," interrupted Black. "They are individuals who have spliced their DNA to insert genetic material from other animals."

That went way over Sari's head. "Could you simplify that please?"

"A chimera is a life form with two separate sets of DNA," explained Black. "It happens naturally more often than you'd think. The addicts have only one set of DNA. They're just altering it by inserting animal genes."

"How can something naturally have two sets of DNA?" asked Sari, mildly disturbed.

"Two fraternal twin zygotes fuse together shortly after being fertilized." Black pulled up something on a computer screen, frowned and started putting in commands. "What did your commander want to know exactly?"

"He's not my commander," corrected Sari. She thought a moment. She didn't know much herself. "Where did the not-chimera come from?"

"Someone stole my research and decided to make a profit from it."

Sari blinked. "You created them?"

Black paused. "I created the technology and procedure, but it has yet to make it to human testing. I was trying to find a way to regrow limbs. That's something Sumdac Systems can take care of that we can't. Certain animals can regrow lost body parts, and I was trying to isolate the genes and insert them into test subjects using a specially modified retrovirus and enzymes. However, there have been numerous difficulties. Some of the inserted genes interrupt important sequences, which results in a rapid death for the subject. Others cause tumors to develop. And then some retroviruses have extra genes that cause my rats to end up with amphibian or crustacean characteristics, which can be especially dangerous if it affects the neurons in the brain. The percentage of test subjects that survive with no unwanted modifications is less 1%. Far too low to even consider human testing."

Sari crossed her arms. "And how do I know you're not doing this to make an extra buck?"

Black turned to face her with an insulted look on his face. "You suspect me?" Sari raised a skeptical eyebrow. Black frowned. "Oh fine, I suppose that makes sense considering your experience with businessmen. The Detroit Police already investigated and found a mole who leaked it to an outside party. I have since fired said employee. Besides, if I wanted to make money, I would make it work correctly with no side effects so that it could be safely used by anyone who wanted or needed it. These sorry beasts are causing public opinion in my company to fall. They're losing me business."

Sari nodded. She didn't trust Prometheus Black, but he was a businessman. He wouldn't want to do anything to lose money. "Why would anyone want to take a risk like that?"

"Some people think they're an animal trapped in a human body. Several of the identified users fall into this category." Black snorted. "Personally, I've never put much stock into the belief. Human is human, no matter what one may want to believe."

"Don't they usually only think they're one animal?"

"The first treatment alters the way they think so that they become more animalistic. What is an animal's instinct?"

That Sari knew. "Survive and reproduce by any means necessary."

"Correct. Being an animal is not as glamorous as these people think. Both have to do with being strong, and one way to become stronger is to perform additional genetic modifications, but with the way they look they have very few options available so they go back to the dealer they purchased the original treatment from."

Sari made a face. "Whatever happened to exercising?"

"Humans are lazy, and after being treated, most survivors can't think straight," explained Black.

"Isn't there some way to change these guys back to normal?"

"Theoretically."

"Theoretically?"

"Removing genes is not nearly as easy as inserting them. Rather than a standard booster, the treatment has to be tailored to the individual so as to avoid removing essential genes. This is made even more difficult if I do not have the subject's previous genetic information on record or they have used a procedure that is as messy as what these subjects are using."

"So, you could turn them back to normal?"

"If I had enough time, but most brought in are dead. The ones that are brought in still alive have a bad habit of killing themselves after a period of time for some reason." Black started checking a large machine. "I'm researching a couple of other possible cures, but these things take time. Humans are considerably more complicated than robots."

"You can say that again," muttered Sari.

Black caught it and smirked. "Now, was there anything else you needed?"

Sari thought for a moment. "What do you want us to do if we run into another one?"

"Take it alive," instructed Black. "That way, I can at least try to find something that will reverse the process."

Sari nodded. "That should be everything."

"Very good." Black gestured towards a waste container. "You can throw your coat and gloves away." Sari pulled the protective equipment off and slipped her mask back on. "Now, please allow me to show you the way out."

Sari shrugged. She didn't really care that much.

Silverbolt was still waiting outside. He stood as he caught sight of the two. "It went well?"

"Yeah, fine," said Sari.

Black was looking Silverbolt over. "Interesting…Would you mind if I get a DNA sample?" Sari gave him a surprised look, but Silverbolt lowered his head and opened his mouth. Black pulled a swab seemingly out of nowhere, rubbed it against the inside of Silverbolt's mouth with no fear, and snapped it back into its container. "Much obliged." Black hurried back inside.

Sari quickly climbed onto Silverbolt's back. "What else?" asked Silverbolt.

Sari thought a moment. Personally, she just wanted out of this dress. "Let's go back to the base."

They were about halfway there when Sari blurted it out. "Prometheus Black knows who I am."

Silverbolt was silent for a moment. "That bad?"

"He could tell others," said Sari. "Do you know how much trouble that could cause?"

"We will protect," said Silverbolt

Sari raised an eyebrow. "We?"

"Not alone. We…have others."

Sari huffed. "You say that, but you haven't told anyone your old name."

"Look different. Act different. Think different," explained Silverbolt. "Need proof."

The two stayed silent and in thought until they reached the base. Rodimus was there to meet them. "So, was he willing to talk?"

"Yeah, his explanations were hard to follow, but from what I could get from him, Chimeras aren't actually chimeras, they just look like a chimera," said Sari.

Rodimus's face scrunched up in confusion. "Huh?"

"It has to do with a mythological creature and actual scientific terms," explained Sari. "The humans who undergo the process are kind of weird beforehand, but using it causes them to become violent and addicted as a messed up survival mechanism. There might be a way to change them back, but it's really complicated and it would have to be tailored to the individual…Which means that if one of us runs into one, we need to try to take it alive, but I think Chimera should be left to humans," finished Sari.

"Agreed," said Silverbolt.

"The humans have trouble taking down chimera though," pointed out Rodimus.

"Yeah, well, it's pretty easy for a Cybertronian to kill a human," pointed out Sari. "It doesn't matter how enhanced the human is, one misstep or squeeze and splat!"

Silverbolt nodded. "Control is hard."

Rodimus tilted his head. Everyone was insisting that this matter be left to the humans. Why was he the only one who thought they needed to do something? "But…This is the sort of thing we're supposed to deal with, and you just want me to ignore the issue?"

"The Chimera have nothing to do with Cybertronians, and the police don't want your help. That means it's outside your jurisdiction," reminded Sari.

"Vigilante bad," added Silverbolt. "Humans already not like Cybertronians."

"Isn't this something that would make humans like us?" insisted Rodimus.

"Not if you get on the politicians' bad side," snarked Sari.

Rodimus sighed. "I'm never gonna understand politics…Fine, we'll take a passive stance on this issue for the moment. I'll extend an offer of assistance to the Detroit enforcers-"

"Police," corrected Sari

"Oh, right. I'll extend an offer of assistance to the Detroit police, and if they are willing to work with us, we'll make it our issue."

Sari shrugged. "Okay, you're the boss." Rodimus walked away, presumably to make the call. Sari turned to Silverbolt. "What do you think the chances are that Fanzone takes the offer?"

Silverbolt grinned. "None."

Detroit Police Station:

Fanzone's rotary phone started ringing. Fanzone picked it up. "Detroit Police Station, Captain Fanzone speaking."

"_Hello Captain."_

Fanzone frowned. That voice was familiar. "Who is this?"

"_Rodimus Prime."_

"Oh, right. Got some sort of Decepticon problem you need to tell us about?"

"_No, I'm calling about the Chimera issue."_

"Oh, yeah, what was that guy's name?"

"_Which guy?"_

"The guy who ran into the Chimera, real short for one of you guys."

"_Oh, you mean Brawn."_

"Yeah, no one's planning to press charges against him since we found some camera footage that showed he was attacked first."

"_Actually, I thought I'd see if you'd like our help with your Chimera problem."_

"No."

"_What? Why not?"_

"Because you've only been here for a few weeks. You don't know how Detroit works, you don't know about investigations we have underway, you can't go into the areas that the Chimera frequent because you're too big, and you don't know the correct questions to ask. Besides, you're military, not law enforcement. The procedures are completely different."

"_But-"_

Fanzone hung up and went back to work.

Autobot base:

"He hung up on me!"

"Well, duh," said Flareup. "I could've told you that was going to happen."

Rodimus gave Flareup a stern look. "Really? And how did you know that?"

"Easy, they're afraid we're going to invade their planet and take over."

Rodimus blinked. "Really? I can see why they'd think that with the Decepticons, but the Autobots are completely different."

Flareup rolled her optics. "Sure…Anyway, Earth's history is different from most organic planets. Rather than staying in one place, developing a central government, and then colonizing other areas to contain an expanding population, humans somehow managed to spread over most of the planet before developing any governments. Since they didn't have technology to keep in touch, these different governments became different nations. It sounds like wars were pretty common place in ancient times, along with sacking and pillaging. It's not as bad in modern times. Most countries try to get along with the others, but differences in belief and culture means that disagreements do arise, and fear of war is still pretty prevalent, and with war comes invasion.

"And they're especially afraid of being invaded by extraterrestrials. When humans invade human nations, they at least have technology that's on similar levels. That gives both sides a fighting chance, and other nations will probably help the nation that's being invaded. Extraterrestrials, like us, would inevitably have technology much more complicated than anything humans would have, so even if all of Earth's nations managed to put their differences aside and fight together against the invasion force, they'd likely lose and be subjugated or wiped out."

Rodimus blinked. "That…actually makes perfect sense. I guess always worrying about invasion would make a government nervous. How many countries are there anyway? 7? 13?"

"192."

Rodimus's optics bugged out. "That many?!"

Flareup nodded. "They're used to be a few more, but a few countries have fused together into one country. I think they'll eventually become one government with no countries, but it's going to take a very long time."

Rodimus stared at Flareup in surprise. "How does their civilization manage to function?"

Flareup shrugged. "Dunno, but it's pretty interesting. I've been reading up on the different cultures. Tried having a conversation with Silverbolt about them, but he's still having some trouble talking."

Rodimus shook his head. The reports he'd read had left out a lot of information. He was gonna have to do some research himself, and he wasn't very good at that. Wait…Rodimus glanced at Flareup. "Would you mind sharing what you know about the different countries and cultures with me?"

Flareup immediately launched into a lecture on the history of America, starting with Native American tribes. Rodimus suppressed a groan. This was gonna take forever.

Outside:

Sari absentmindedly was doodling in the dirt. The Dinobots were with Prowl, and she still didn't want to see him so she was just trying to distract herself. Silverbolt padded over and transformed. "Thinking about Isaac?" he signed.

"Trying not to," muttered Sari. She got up, climbed up, and just fell onto Silverbolt's head. She always felt so safe when surrounded by her father's fur. "Why did this have to happen? Why couldn't we just keep living in the forest without anyone bothering us?"

"We could not let anyone get hurt," signed Silverbolt. "Even in exile, we have morals that we must follow, and I am happy."

"…You're enjoying this?"

"It is…nice. I chose exile, but I did not want to. Transformers and humans…are both social creatures. What we did was…necessary but not healthy."

Sari huffed. "I think I would have preferred exile. Have you seen the way people look at me?"

"We are…out of practice. We need to get used to talking again," explained Silverbolt as he headed back towards the base. Silverbolt especially needed this practice since he wasn't even sure he remembered how to speak Cybertronix at this point. "Give it time. Things will get better."

Sari sighed. "I hope so."

_And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword._

"Why did you write this chapter?" asked Vector.

"I wanted to include Prometheus Black, and this seemed to be the best way," explained KHGiggle.

"And the Chimeras?"

"Inspired by those bat and shark monsters from the original timeline," said KHGiggle. "With a little bit of the splicers from Batman Beyond."

"Did anything important happen?"

KHGiggle looked the chapter over. "One or two things. You'll see what they are…eventually."

_This has been The Afterword._


	7. Exposed

It was a fairly typical day. Detroit had been kept nice and clean since Wreck-gar had popped up, so everyone was free to go about their business. In addition, there had been no more Decepticon or Allspark sightings. Even the weather was nice.

"If you get off that berth, I'm calling Ratchet again," deadpanned Red Alert.

Ironhide groaned and lay back down on the berth. "Oh come on! I feel fine!"

"You almost deactivated. If Ratchet hadn't been on servo, you would have. We need to be sure the welds are healing properly before you can be as active as you normally are."

Ironhide huffed. "You hold rank over Ratchet. Can't you overrule him or something?"

"I could, but I agree completely with his diagnosis." Red Alert handed Ironhide the special energon mix she'd been working on. "Here you go."

Ironhide downed the energon. It felt different from usual, but not to the extent he would refuse it. "What's with you and Ratchet anyway? He's kind of old for your tastes."

Red Alert rolled her optics. "Really? That's your first thought? Ratchet is one of the most talented living medics, possibly the best. Most medics would happily work under him for the experience."

Ironhide blinked. "Then what's he doing on a repair crew in the middle of nowhere?"

Red Alert shrugged. "I have no idea. Given some of the things I've observed, he may have wanted to be on the crew. I know that sounds strange, but not every bot wants to be rich and famous. Some want a quiet life. Maybe it was his idea of a vacation."

"Seems like a slagging vacation if you ask me," muttered Ironhide.

Red Alert sighed. Some bots just don't understand the appeal of a nice, slow life.

Outside:

"All right you glitches! It's time to practice your ranged attacks!" announced Kup while gesturing at some targets that appeared to have been made from trash.

"Did Wreck-gar make those?" asked Prowl.

"I helped!" said Bulkhead.

"I don't think we ever did this back in boot camp," commented Bumblebee.

"Well, you're doing it now," said Kup. Mentally, he wondered why their drill sergeant never did long range practice with them.

"Dad doesn't have any long range attacks," pointed out Sari.

Kup handed Silverbolt a grappling gun. "Use that then. Might as well make sure you can use your mods correctly…"

There was a loud crash. Everyone turned to see Bulkhead's target lying several feet away with his wrecking ball on it. Bulkhead sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, I don't think this is gonna work…"

Detroit:

"I'm bored…" Nancy sighed as she continued on her way home. It just wasn't the same without Soundwave. She spent most of her time home alone with no one to play with or talk to. She wished he'd come back, but he was pretty adamant about staying where he was.

At least Laserbeak and Ravage would visit her sometimes. They couldn't talk though so it wasn't quite the same.

As Nancy was mulling over her lack of anything to do, something shiny caught her eye. Nancy immediately ran over to see what it was.

It was a piece of crystal that was glowing slightly. Most humans wouldn't recognize it for what it was, but Nancy had seen videos and pictures of it so she immediately recognized it. "Allspark!" She grabbed the shard. It wasn't very big. It fit in the palm of her hand. She could easily hide it by fisting her hand.

Wow! This is the greatest find she's ever made! She's gotta show this to Soundwave!

Back at the Autobot base:

*Splat!*

There was something distinctly dissatisfying about a paint gun when your normal gun makes stuff explode. Still, Flareup understood why Kup had forbidden her from using it. She'd have destroyed her target pretty quickly.

She was pleased to see that she was doing quite well. Looks like her sporadic practice sections had paid off. Her neighbor was doing pretty well herself. "I'm surprised you can use those blasters so well."

Sari shrugged from where she was standing next to Flareup. "My blasters were the first transformation I discovered, and I couldn't make an arrow to save my life so I practiced with them a lot."

"What about your spear?"

"I only had the one, and I had to go find it every time I threw it. The blasters were more efficient."

Flareup nodded in understanding. "Hey, how did you end up living with Silverbolt in the first place?"

Sari gave Flareup a surprised look. "What brought that up?"

Flareup shrugged. "Just curious. You two are some of the most interesting bots I've ever met, but I know hardly anything about you besides that you're half organic and Silverbolt used to live on Cybertron."

Sari frowned at Flareup. "…I'm not telling you guys anything more than I have to."

Flareup huffed. "You have some real bad trust issues." Sari grunted. Flareup tapped her chin. "Actually, there's something really familiar about it." She slammed a fist into her open servo. "Oh yeah! It's a lot like Prowl!"

Sari's shot went wild and disappeared into the tree line. "Wh-what?!"

"Less talking, more shooting!"

Both jumped at Kup's sudden command and started firing again. Kup snorted and continued down the line. Bulkhead's target had been replaced by a large boulder. The only other problem was the Dinobots. The flamethrowers weren't working so well with the targets they were using. It frustrated them, and they kept trying to leave. Kup was managing to keep them from leaving, but they were getting noticeably agitated.

And Grimlock was trying to leave again. Kup got in its way. "Hold it. You still need more practice."

Grimlock growled. "Me Grimlock sick of spitting fire."

"I don't care. Your aim is still off."

Grimlock transformed. Kup tensed when he saw the flaming sword and pulled out his ax.

The impending fight was abruptly derailed when Silverbolt grabbed Grimlock's upper arm. "Grimlock! You will not argue with Kup!"

"But he weak! Me Grimlock only listen to strong!"

"Kup may not be as strong as you." Kup frowned at that comment. "But he has survived two wars. His age brings experience and wisdom. That is to be respected. That is why he teaches. You should be honored to have him as an instructor. Instead you insult him and shame us. You will apologize to Kup, and you will continue to follow his instructions."

Grimlock and Silverbolt continued to have a staring contest before Grimlock bowed out. "Me Grimlock…sorry," said Grimlock before transforming back to his beast mode and going back to trying to hit the target.

Kup raised an optic ridge. "You're talking differently."

Silverbolt shrugged. "I can understand English perfectly. I just never had to speak it before. And my vocalizer was recovering. It hurt to talk."

Kup nodded. That made sense. "Right. As you were."

Silverbolt returned to firing at his target.

Detroit sewers:

Soundwave examined the arm he was working on. This was a bit difficult since he could fit in the hand of the arm.

At first glance, it looked like Soundwave was building a robot that was the size of a typical Cybertronian. This was half right. It was a new body for him. After seeing that all the Cybertronians were so large, he'd decided it would be a good idea to be the same size as them. He was still working on how he would transfer to the new body, but he was certain he would be able to solve the issue by the time the body was complete.

His inspection was suddenly interrupted. "Soundwave!"

Soundwave jumped and turned to see Nancy running in. "I found a-" She was cut off when she tripped over a stray screwdriver and fell on her face.

Soundwave sighed. "Nancy: Should not be running around in this area." He paused. "Query: How did you navigate without assistance?"

Nancy didn't answer. Actually, she wasn't moving either. Had she knocked herself out when she'd hit her head? The floor was concrete, and it sounded like she'd hit her head pretty hard.

It was after Soundwave had jumped off his work table and walked over that he saw the blood. Soundwave was caught off guard for a moment before rolling Nancy over.

Nancy had fallen on three pieces of metal that had been lying around. One was only piercing her side and didn't seem too problematic, but the other two pieces were in her chest and abdomen. Some blood had dribbled out of her mouth, suggesting there was internal bleeding.

Soundwave didn't know anything about human medicine. He had no idea how to treat injuries like this, but he could tell that they were very serious.

Soundwave's thought process ground to a halt as he realized the metal in her wounds was seeping into her skin. That was the moment he realized Nancy's hand was glowing.

Later, Detroit:

Spike Witwicky stretched as he entered his house. He walked upstairs to the room he shared with his wife. After cleaning up a bit he walked downstairs and checked in the kitchen. There was nothing in the fridge, so he started cooking up something pretty simple, just some chicken strips, mac' and cheese, and broccoli. He didn't even bother to set any places.

Spike headed back upstairs. "Nancy, it's time for dinner if you're hungry." No answer. Spike frowned. That was odd. Nancy generally answered when she was called. He opened the door to her bedroom. She wasn't there.

Spike spent another couple of minutes looking for Nancy before he decided another method was needed. He pulled out his cell phone and typed in her number.

Under Detroit:

Nancy woke up with a groan as something started ringing right next to her ear. She pawed at her head for a moment, but the ringing continued. She tried to ignore it, but it kept going on for a minute before suddenly stopping. Nancy let out a sigh of relief as it stopped. Then it started again. Realizing that she wasn't going to be allowed to continue sleeping, she opened her eyes.

She let out a yelp when she saw Soundwave, Ravage, and Laserbeak hovering over her. "Query: Are you all right?"

"Yeah, kind of…" Nancy trailed off. "How come I sound different?"

"Explanation: There was an incident."

Nancy sat up. She certainly felt weird. She looked down and saw white and sky blue metal. It took a moment for her to realize it was her body. "I'm…a robot?"

"Affirmative."

Nancy quickly stood up to get a better look at herself. "I'm all grown up…" She was in fact taller and had curves that would be normal on a human woman.

"Correction: You are still a child. You just have an adult body." Even Ravage and Laserbeak gave him a weird look for that comment.

"How did this happen?" asked Nancy as she continued to look herself over.

"Hypothesis: When you were injured, the Allspark shard reacted and repaired your body with the surrounding technology."

Nancy gave Soundwave a surprised look. "I got hurt?"

Soundwave nodded and pointed towards the puddle of blood. "Affirmative."

Nancy's eyes widened and she gulped. That looked like a lot of blood to her. "Wow. What happened?"

"Explanation: You tripped and fell on scrap metal. Injuries: Very serious. Soundwave: Apologizes for not keeping work area clean."

"Work areas are always messy," muttered Nancy. She stared at her hands. She cracked a small smile. "You know, this is actually pretty cool." That declaration seemed to ease a lot of the tension in the room. "Wait 'til Mom and Dad and Daniel see this." And just like that, the tension was back. Nancy looked up in surprise. "What's wrong?"

"Query: Will your family recognize you?"

Nancy froze. Even without looking in a mirror, she could tell she looked really different. She ran her hands over her head. Completely metal. "No, they won't." Nancy hiccupped a few times. Then she started sobbing her heart out, sinking to her knees. Ravage and Laserbeak immediately curled up around her. Soundwave wasn't sure how to go about comforting her. Eventually, he tried patting her back. He honestly couldn't tell if it had any effect.

Detroit:

"Okay, when was the last time you saw your daughter?" asked Fanzone.

"This morning," said Spike. "When I dropped her off at school."

"And who picked her up?" asked Fanzone.

"Most of the time she walks home."

Fanzone nodded. That wasn't unusual due to the various police drones that had patrolled the city. They'd kept things pretty safe so letting kids walk alone for short periods of time was safe. Now though…The police department had cautioned the citizens of Detroit, making it clear that this was not a good idea to leave your children alone outside of your home. Not everyone had gotten the message. "Can you think of anyone who might want to abduct her?"

"What? No!"

"Is there a chance she might have run away?" asked Fanzone.

"No, Nancy's always been a well-behaved girl," said Spike.

That was when a car came screeching to a halt next to the house. Carly jumped out. "Where's Nancy? What happened to Nancy?"

"I don't know. I can't find her," said Spike.

"Do you know if there's anyone who might want to abduct your daughter or if she might want to try and run away?" repeated Fanzone.

Carly looked shocked. "Of course not!"

Fanzone held up his hands. "They're just standard questions. I need to be sure. Not all children have a good relationship with their parents. Can you tell me a bit more about Nancy and get us a few pictures?"

Spike nodded and ran to grab some pictures. Carly stayed outside. "Nancy is a very intelligent young girl. She even skipped a grade of school. She's just…naïve…and trusting."

"That's a problem," commented Fanzone. She might have gone off with a stranger. "Anything else?"

"She's friendly, and polite, and imaginative…" Carly started to cry.

Spike returned. When he saw his wife crying, Spike enveloped her in a hopefully soothing embrace.

That was when Daniel arrived. He ducked under the crime scene tape. "Is Nancy…" He couldn't finish.

"We're still trying to figure out what happened," said Fanzone. "Can you tell me anything you think your parents might not have noticed?"

Daniel frowned. "Just…I think she finally outgrew her Soundwave doll."

Fanzone nodded. "The Center for Missing and Exploited Children has been contacted. We will do everything we can to find your daughter." The chances of her being alive and unharmed when they found her weren't very good though.

Captain Fanzone hated cases that involved children.

Autobot base:

Flareup tilted her head. Silverbolt was in the recreation room, watching the television. "You're watching the news?"

Silverbolt nodded. "It is amazing how quickly it travels now…"

Flareup nodded. It wasn't quite as fast as news on Cybertron, but it was still impressive. She checked the story. "A missing youngling?"

"A common occurrence, unfortunately," Silverbolt explained sadly.

Flareup sat down next to Silverbolt. "Yeah, I've read a bit on it. I can't believe it's so bad that they actually have a division that exclusively focuses on crimes against younglings."

Silverbolt growled, letting her know how he felt about it.

"Where is everyone else anyway?" asked Flareup.

"They did not share my interest in recent events."

"You hid the remote from them, didn't you?" deadpanned Flareup.

Silverbolt chuckled but didn't answer.

The two sat in silence, watching the news reports on the television. "Silverbolt…Will you tell me about your time on Earth?"

Silverbolt started. "What? Why?"

Flareup shrugged. "You're…different…" Flareup searched for a word that fit Silverbolt. "Interesting. You don't have to tell me who you originally were or how you ended up on Earth. I'm just…curious how you managed to survive on your own for so long."

Silverbolt stared. "It…is not a pleasant story."

"My idea of fun is reading records from before I was brought online, including things from the Great War," said Flareup. "I think I can handle it."

Silverbolt studied Flareup for a few moments. She seemed sincere. "Why do you care?"

"…I'm not sure…It just seems…important."

Silverbolt thought for another few moments before he nodded. "All right. I will tell you what I can, but I ask that you do not judge me until I am done with my story."

Flareup raised an optic ridge but nodded.

Under Detroit:

Soundwave pulled a tarp over Nancy. She hadn't stopped crying until she'd fallen into a troubled sleep. She'd probably start crying again when she woke up, and Soundwave had no idea how he was supposed to comfort her.

Ravage stayed curled up next to Nancy. Laserbeak had extricated himself and clicked a bit. "Unknown. Reason: Likely the Allspark fragment Nancy had on her person." Soundwave wasn't sure what had happened to the shard. Nancy hadn't dropped it, but it wasn't in her hand now. Had she somehow absorbed it?

Whatever had happened, it had changed Nancy's life forever.

Soundwave glanced at his new body. He'd ended up sacrificing the nearly completed servo when he'd run out of scrap metal to support the reformatting process. It was a bit annoying, but he could make another one.

Soundwave climbed up to the computer and entered a search request. As he suspected, there was a news report about Nancy's disappearance.

Laserbeak flew up and clicked another question. "Nancy stays," said Soundwave. "She is ours now."

A few days later:

Ravage bounded into the lair and padded over to where Nancy was sitting against a wall. He dropped a bag next to her. "'m not hungry." Ravage growled, picked up the bag, and dropped it onto Nancy's lap. "Okay, okay." She pulled out a burger and made a face. She never would have thought it was possible to get tired of hamburgers…

Soundwave looked over. "Nancy: Has not been eating a normal amount of food."

Nancy shrugged as she took a small bite of the burger. "I'm not hungry," she repeated.

That was worrying. Soundwave, Ravage, and Laserbeak could run off of electricity. If he ever got his hands on energon, he'd try to adjust their systems to the more efficient fuel source. Nancy…couldn't run on electricity, and couldn't be modified for energon so she had to still eat organic matter as a power source. No one knew how much she should be eating or what she should be eating.

Soundwave was starting to regret involving Nancy in all of this. He had no idea if she was going to survive. "Query: Are you feeling better?"

"No. I wanna go home."

Soundwave didn't think he could let her do that without exposing everything. "Soundwave: Does not believe that is a good idea."

"I know!" Nancy huffed. "It's not fair! I wanna see my family!"

And then Nancy suddenly turned into a human.

It was so sudden that Ravage actually jumped back. Everyone else was shocked as well. Nancy stared at her hands. "I'm…human again?"

Soundwave quickly made his way over to examine what should have been impossible. As he grabbed a hand, he realized it was still impossible. "Negative. This is a hologram."

Nancy frowned and felt her hands. Soundwave was right. Her hands still felt metal. "Oh. Well, at least I look human. Do you think my family will recognize me?"

Soundwave shook his head. "Nancy: Resembles an adult female. You are supposed to be a child."

Nancy frowned at him. "Well, I'm going to go talk to them anyway."

If Soundwave could frown, he would have. "Soundwave: Does not recommend this course of action."

Nancy stood. "I don't care. I'm going to go see them." She walked out.

Well, that wasn't good. Even if she didn't expose his operations, she was probably going to end up in some sort of trouble. "Ravage: Follow Nancy."

Ravage bounded after Nancy. Soundwave hoped neither were noticed and caught.

Decepticon Base:

"I cannot find the tiny hybrid anywhere," said Strika as she went through every single camera feed she could find. "Does she never leave the Autobot base?"

"That appears to be the case with most of the Autobots we originally encountered," noted Icy Blitzwing. He switched to Hothead. "If I ever get my servos on those bots, I'll rip their heads off!"

Strika made a grunt of agreement. Deciding that she'd had enough of searching for a youngling that refused to be found. Instead she turned her attention to the humans and their progress in constructing the space bridge. They didn't seem to have made any progress since the last time she checked. "Can't you work any faster?"

"We're working with science and technology we know practically nothing about," said Penelope. "It's going to take some time."

"And we are missing some equipment and parts," said Dr. White. "And improvising can be very dangerous with this sort of thing."

"That's what this is for," said Strika, gesturing towards a pile of scrap metal.

Masterson made a face. "What're we supposed to do a pile of scrap?"

"Melt it into what you need."

"…You're kidding, right?"

Strika was not pleased. Fortunately, Raf was quickly learning how to diffuse situations before someone was squished or shot. "What he means is that we don't know how to make parts. We can put parts together without a problem most of the time, but we get the parts from a contracted manufacturer. Plus we don't have the machinery or molds, and I think you need a specific alloy for certain parts."

Strika was still displeased. "Wonderful. Another complication."

Cyclonus suddenly spoke. "Perhaps one of the Autobots currently stationed on Earth will have knowledge of space bridges."

"Maybe."

Detroit:

Hot Shot grunted as he lifted an I-beam into place. "How's this?"

"That's good," said the construction worker. "Now weld it into place."

That was Wasp's job as his stingers were originally supposed to be for welding. "How many more of these are there?"

"I have no idea," said Hot Shot. "I am never going to take construction bots or repair bots for granted again. This is harder than it looks." Hot Shot made a mental note to make a couple of apologies when he got back to Cybertron.

"Ugh, no kidding. Why would anyone want to take this sort of job?" complained Wasp.

"Didn't Bumblebee and Bulkhead accept this job after they got kicked out of basic training?" Hot Shot reminded Wasp.

Wasp snorted. "Yeah, Bumbler convinced Bulkhead there was a Decepticon spy in our class. They caused so much trouble that Sentinel finally lost it and kicked them out! It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen!"

Hot Shot chuckled. "Isn't Bulkhead bigger than Sentinel? How would that even work?"

"Okay, it wasn't literal. Guy's an idiot though. Don't know what made him think he could be a space bridge technician."

Hot Shot thought a moment. "Isn't that sort of what he was doing before the crashed on this planet?"

"They had Ratchet and Wheeljack for that," countered Wasp. He paused. "Okay, maybe not Wheeljack."

In their short amount of time stationed on Earth, the whole of Team Athenia had come to associate Wheeljack with explosions.

Hot Shot was about to comment on how odd it was for someone of Bulkhead's size (and strength) to not specialize in close combat when he noticed a small group of children that appeared to be staring at them.

Stares were normal. The Autobots got stares all the time, some more than others. Children were more willing to openly stare. What was odd was their expressions and the timing. They should be going to school right now, and would probably be late if they didn't get moving.

The white boy with brown hair was on a bike and looked very nervous. There was a darker skinned boy on a skateboard next to him who looked rather amused. The last kid was a girl with dark hair and Asian features on a scooter who looked impatient.

After a few moments, the boy seemed to push the nervousness aside. "Hey!"

Now he had Wasp's attention too. "What?"

The boy seemed a bit surprised by Wasp's tone. "Uh…" He steeled himself. "Do you guys work with the police?"

Hot Shot decided to respond before Wasp could say what he thought of that. "Only if they have a case that might involve Decepticons or the Allspark or they ask for our assistance."

The boy seemed to deflate. "Oh…"

Hot Shot frowned. Why did the boy seem so disappointed by that? "You okay?"

"Rad's family has had a few rough weeks," explained the girl. "His father was one of the scientists kidnapped from Sumdac systems."

Hot Shot blinked. "Kidnapped?"

"Yeah, it's still all over the news," explained the other boy. At Hot Shot's surprised look, he snickered. "Wow, for ultra high tech mechanical aliens, you guys are pretty clueless."

"We've been busy," defended Hot Shot. He left out that they were busy trying to figure out how to do construction tasks and get used to the culture. Plus the whole Wreck-gar episode. "What happened?"

"I don't know," said Rad. "He just disappeared one day with a bunch of other scientists. By the time anybody realized, they'd been missing for hours."

The other boy nodded. "Yeah, my dad's the head of security, and he couldn't find out anything even after looking at all the security footage. Whoever pulled this off was an expert."

"I still think that an inside job is more likely than Decepticons," said the girl.

Wasp snorted. "What would the Decepticons want with a bunch of humans?"

"That's what I said," agreed the girl.

"We're still getting used to human culture," said Hot Shot. "Might be a good idea to talk about it with one of the bots that's been here longer."

"You're the first Autobots we've seen though," said Rad.

"Uh…Well, I don't know what to tell you. We've got our own orders to carry out," admitted Hot Shot. "I don't think we'll actually be able to devote any time to human investigations."

Rad was visibly disappointed. The girl didn't seem surprised. "See? They have their own jobs to do. Besides, I don't think any of them could fit in the building."

"Uh, we're gonna be late if we don't get going," said the other boy.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." The kids continued on their way.

"Did that seem strange to you?" asked Hot Shot.

"No."

Back at base:

"Okay, it's time for close combat simulations," announced Kup. "As you're only fighting each other and not Decepticons you are not to land any blows that could cause serious damage."

"'Cause Ratchet'll blow up at you if you do!" interjected Bumblebee.

"Yeah, probably," admitted Kup. "Anyway, it'll be a combination of one-on-one, two-on-one, and two-on-two matches. Any requests?"

"Grimlock want to fight Grandpa!"

"…Not what I meant, but okay. Anyone else?"

"I would like a weapon," said Silverbolt.

Kup shrugged. That was long overdue really. "Any preferences?"

"Tomahawks."

Kup froze. "A what?"

"A tomahawk," repeated Silverbolt. "It is similar to an ax, which will also work if there are no tomahawks available."

Considering that Kup had never heard of a tomahawk, Silverbolt was gonna have to make do with one of Kup's spare axes that he carried around with him.

Actually, Silverbolt was quite pleased with this. It wasn't a tomahawk, but the rocket propulsion made the ax resemble one.

Sari raised her hand. "What about Wreck-gar?"

"He's not a fighter," deadpanned Kup.

The Allspark shard might make Wreck-gar powerful, but he had no mods for fighting and didn't really seem to have any interest in learning how. Not to mention the guy was incredibly unpredictable. It was safer to leave him out of fights, which was why Kup hadn't made any efforts to train him.

"Right. That all?" asked Kup. No one spoke up. "Good. Everyone but Grimlock and Silverbolt off the field."

When the rest of the team returned, it was to the sight of Slag and Sludge trying to beat the tar out of each other while Sari zipped all over Bumblebee.

"Did another fight break out?" asked Rodimus.

"Nah. This is just some light sparring," said Kup.

Ratchet eyed the rest of the bots, who had various dents except for Silverbolt and Sari. "That's more than 'light sparring'."

Kup shrugged. "Well, what do you expect when half of the bots I have for sparring are Dinobots?"

As if to punctuate this, Slag managed to club Sludge hard enough in the head that she was sent flying.

"Hey!" shouted Kup. "No attacks to the head!" And just like that Kup was running into the 'light spar' to break it up.

Ratchet headed into the base, muttering about how sick and tired he was of pounding out dents.

Rodimus honestly didn't know if this could be counted as an improvement. "Okay, time to report. Anyone see anything out of the usual today?"

"No," said Ironhide.

"No," said Brawn.

"No," said Wasp.

"No," said Hot Shot. "Although we had an interesting conversation with some human younglings."

"Oh good." Rodimus had been trying to interact with humans to build up some sort of camaraderie, but some of the others were less than interested. "What about?"

"He wanted to know if we were working with the police."

Rodimus blinked. "Why would a youngling ask about that?" He'd expect them to ask about what Hot Shot turned into, what he could do, typical youngling questions.

"One of his creators is missing," explained Hot Shot.

Wasp snorted. "Oh yeah, that guy. He was convinced Decepticons had something to do with it."

"What does he do?" asked Brawn.

"I think he's supposed to be some sort of scientist in that building where everyone says Megatron was," said Hot Shot

"That…actually wouldn't be too weird," admitted Brawn. "There was a shortage of medics and scientists in Decepticon ranks during the war, so when they needed one, they'd just kidnap one from Autobot ranks."

"I don't think humans are smart enough for most of that stuff," pointed out Ironhide.

Brawn shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But some of the humans are familiar with Cybertronian technology."

Rodimus frowned. "That's actually a good point. It might be a good idea to ask the police if we can look into it."

"Seriously?" asked Wasp.

"We've got…" Rodimus paused a moment. "Two confirmed Decepticons present on this planet, possibly more. Brawn's got experience fighting them, so I'm gonna take his advice."

The next day:

"Okay, apparently the one most familiar with human enforcer procedures is Flareup," said Rodimus. The femme grinned at the fact she got a day off from Kup's training. "So she's gonna accompany you Brawn."

Brawn was chosen partially because he lacked most of the prejudice and fear most bots felt towards organic life forms and partially because he was the smallest bot currently on base and therefore would have an easier time fitting into human buildings.

"Ratchet's already contacted the local law enforcement," continued Rodimus. "They'll have an enforcer waiting for you at the location for supervising purposes."

"Got it."

"I don't know how long the investigation will take considering that this planet's solar cycles are pretty short. Try to find what you can today. If you don't get anything, you can try again tomorrow, but we only have so much time to spend on this. If we don't find anything concrete, we'll have to move on."

Brawn nodded. Flareup seemed less than pleased but nodded as well.

The two started for Sumdac Systems. _"So you ever done something like this before?"_ asked Flareup.

"_Occasionally. I usually stick to physical stuff."_

"_Right…"_ Flareup recalled that Brawn could take on a Dinobot so he had to be a strong fighter. _"What sort of stuff did you do during the war?"_

"_What?"_

"_I'm just curious. No one seems to want to talk about it, and the history vids seem to have a lot of propaganda in them."_

"_Do you know what sort of slag happened? There's a reason no one likes to talk about it."_

"_Yeah, I can understand that after running into Lockdown, but still…"_

"_If you're so interested, ask Kup. He loves talking about the war."_

"_Really? He's never said anything before."_

"_Because he's your drill sergeant. He's not supposed to be nice."_

"_Do you have any war stories?"_

"_None I'm willing to share."_

"…_You know, the humans have a saying-"_

"_We're here."_ Brawn transformed. He glanced at Flareup.

"I think it'll be easier to get around if I stay in vehicle mode."

Brawn glanced at the building. It looked like he was going to have to stoop to fit through the door. Him! Stoop! It was bizarre. "Right, where's that enforcer?"

"Actually, they're called police officers here," corrected Flareup. "Although they do have black and white uniforms. Weird coincidence, huh?"

"Uniforms…" Brawn was still getting used to human culture and the like, but he was pretty sure how to tell casual clothes from uniforms that went with a job. Brawn looked around for a human wearing a black and white uniform. Most of the humans coming and going were wearing some sort of suit.

"Oh, hey, there's Captain Fanzone," said Flareup. "Think he's the officer we're working with?"

Brawn shrugged. Fanzone reached them before Flareup could ask any more questions. "You the Autobots requesting an investigation?"

"Yeah," said Brawn.

"Right, then let's make this as quick as possible," said Fanzone. "We've been short on manpower since your big battle."

"Agreed," said Brawn. "What's the standard operating procedure?"

"We can ask employees about what happened, but we can't do any searches without a warrant, and we'd need probable cause."

Brawn groaned. Some things are just universal. "Fine."

"Can we do scans?" asked Flareup.

"…What sort of scans?" asked Fanzone.

"Just to check if the humans have any hardware on them," explained Flareup. "Stuff like cameras or microphones."

"…Fine." Fanzone didn't think it violated any laws, and it was always a good idea to keep an eye out of corporate espionage. He glanced at Flareup as the finally entered the building. "Are you gonna stay like that the whole time?"

"Probably. It's easier to move around in your buildings like this."

Fanzone groaned. "Fine, let's get started." This had to be one of the stranger he'd ever done.

Hector quickly figured out that two robots and a police captain were interviewing employees. "Crap, crap, crap…" He stared at the monitor currently displaying the visiting Autobots.

He'd suspected that Autobots would come eventually, if only because Megatron had been here for so long.

Hector opened a connection to Soundwave. _"Autobots are at Sumdac Systems."_

It took a moment for Soundwave to respond. _"Avoid: Autobots."_

"_It's not that simple. I'm the head of security. Powell is likely going to request my presence at some point."_

"_Acknowledged. Laserbeak: En route."_

And then the connection was cut. Hector took a deep breath. He could do this. He just needed the proper equipment.

With the investigators:

"This isn't about Nancy?"

"Who?" asked Brawn.

"Child abduction case," Fanzone explained. He put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder. "Ma'am, we are doing everything we can to find your daughter. Her picture is everywhere. We're going to find something."

Carly sighed. "Then why are you here?"

"We're investigating the disappearance of your co-workers. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"

"No."

"Nothing at all?"

"No, now please leave."

Fanzone nodded. "Of course."

Brawn held back a groan. The assigned officer was completely refusing to let him or Flareup ask any questions. Not to mention that they kept getting looks. Angry looks Brawn could accept. He was even used to them. He was not used to being looked at like he was an experiment in the making.

The one good thing was that Flareup was being quiet while she scanned everything that caught her interest.

"What are you doing here?" Everyone turned to see Powell storming up to them. "You had better have a good reason for bringing unauthorized personnel in here."

"The Autobots are concerned that the missing scientists might have been abducted by Decepticons," explained Captain Fanzone.

"I really doubt a group of super advanced alien robots would need help from humans," drawled Powell. "Now, unless you have a search warrant, I'll have to ask you to leave."

"You don't need a search warrant to ask someone questions!" protested Flareup.

Captain Fanzone nodded. "She's right."

"Well, those two aren't officers," said Powell. "And I demand they leave the premises. Now."

Brawn crossed his arms. He was sick and tired of having humans messing with what should have been a simple assignment. "We're staying. If nothing else, we need to see if any of the Decepticons left anything behind that was missed in the initial investigation."

"Absolutely not."

"While I don't like the idea either, he is an officer of his military," admitted Fanzone. "And the Decepticons are Cybertronian criminals. The current theory is that they have performed more crimes on their home planet so they're going to be deported…or whatever the term would be in this situation."

Powell wasn't going to hear it. "Security! Get over here now!"

"_I don't think they have anything that can hurt us,"_ said Flareup.

Brawn thought over all the stuff he'd seen since arriving on Earth. _"Maybe something heavy duty, but they wouldn't use that in a hallway."_

"_What about the Captain? We can't really risk his safety."_

Brawn nodded. That was true. He eyed the converging security guards. They had guns and Tasers, which would be dangerous to a human. Just great.

Powell was talking into a phone with an irritated look on his face. "Hector! You get down here right now!"

Hector did eventually come down the hall, although he didn't look very happy to be there. "Do I need to escort these people off the premises?"

"_Hey, Brawn, that human has a weird implant in the base of his brain."_

"_You're still scanning?"_

"_Yeah, will you look at it? It doesn't look familiar, and I thought most of these sorts of things went offline when Megatron was repaired."_

That was a good enough point for Brawn to do a quick scan.

Wait a minute. That wasn't an implant. Brawn had seen that before. "Cerebro shell!"

Everyone else missed Hector tensing. "Pardon?" asked Fanzone.

"A cerebro shell is a Decepticon device that allows a bot to control another bot's actions," explained Flareup. "Nasty stuff. The only one who could remove it was the controller or the bot would end up with permanent processor damage."

"And what does that have to do with this situation?" asked Powell.

"There's one in your security guard."

Powell raised an eyebrow and looked at Hector. "That's ridiculous. You just said this…cerebro shell was for robots, not humans."

"Megatron seems pretty smart," argued Flareup. "And he was able to force a human to help him regain his body. We never figured out who he was."

Brawn got an odd look on his face. "What did it look like?"

"I don't know. I wasn't there. Prowl, Sari, and the Dinobots saw him though."

Fanzone shrugged and turned to Hector. "May we have a photo for identification purposes?"

Hector nodded. He could use the time to get out of there.

As if reading his mind, Brawn shot down the idea of a photo identification. "If he does have a cerebro shell, he could use the time to run. We need to figure out if it's there here and now."

"How?" asked Fanzone.

"There should be a red, metal bump on his head somewhere," said Flareup.

"That sounds simple enough," said Fanzone. "Just let me get a look at your head and we'll get out of here."

For a second, it looked like Hector was going to let Fanzone do this. Then he shot Fanzone in the leg. Before anyone could react, he threw a small object to the ground and made a run for it.

Flareup shifted to robot mode. "Grenade!" She instantly jumped over the grenade. Brawn chased after Hector. The grenade exploded, but Flareup absorbed the blast. She uncurled. "Is everyone okay?"

"Of course not!" shouted Fanzone, who was trying to put pressure on his bleeding leg.

Flareup thought a moment. It wasn't like she could move around in these small hallway. "I'll take you to the lobby."

"Now, wait just a-" Flareup scooped him up before he could finish protesting.

"You want to come with us?" Flareup asked Powell. The security guards had gone running after Brawn and Hector.

Powell crossed his arms. "I don't need your assistance."

Flareup shrugged. "Suit yourself." She started moving towards a stairwell.

"See if you can find a fire alarm," instructed Fanzone. "This warrants an evacuation."

Meanwhile, Hector had decided to climb into a vent. Brawn cursed because there was no way he'd fit in there. He switched to thermal vision. He wasn't getting much of a signal, but it was enough that he could track what was probably Hector. The problem was that Hector was moving surprisingly fast for being in such a small space. Then he turned so that Brawn's thermal vision didn't pick him up anymore. To make things more annoying, an alarm suddenly started going off. Not one to give up so easily, Brawn turned to continue his pursuit, surprising several scientists in the room he'd just broken into. Brawn nearly cursed as Hector turned again.

Brawn kept trying to tail the man, but Hector kept managing to get out of Brawn's range of vision. It was incredibly annoying.

Then Hector suddenly dropped down.

Cursing like a sailor, Brawn frantically searched for a set of stairs and ran down before looking for Hector. Nothing. Brawn tried another floor. He still couldn't find Hector anywhere.

A human with a cerebro shell implant had managed to escape. Brawn let out a frustrated yell and punched a wall, making a rather large hole.

"_Brawn, are you there?"_

Brawn huffed. _"Flareup? Where were you?"_

"_The grenade went off, and some of the humans were hurt. I figured I should evacuate them. Er…was that the wrong course of action?"_

Brawn huffed. _"I don't know…"_ Flareup would have had trouble moving quickly in the hallways, and evacuating the humans would probably keep their reputation from getting even worse. On the other hand, if she'd helped Brawn, Hector might not have escaped. Who knows what he's going to do now. _"Just…get ready to head back to run damage control."_

"_Is it true that you ran through half the walls on the 48__th__ floor?"_

Brawn's optic ridge twitched. _"I was trying to catch a possible Decepticon collaborator! I didn't have time to use doors!"_

"_Okay, I'll meet you out front. By the way, Captain Fanzone's gonna be okay. It looks like the bullet didn't hit any major vessels, and he was pretty lucid when the medics took him away."_

"_Okay…"_ That was a good thing. Less chance of angry enforcers blaming them for a dead officer. _"How're you?"_

"_I'm okay, just a bit of shrapnel in my seams. Human grenades aren't as powerful as Cybertronian ones since humans are more fragile."_

That was good. _"We'll go back to the base as soon as we finish up here. We're gonna need someone good at tracking."_

They got back as soon as possible. The working bots were still away, and Kup was still training the 'cadets'. It looked like Kup had only been gnawed a bit on a leg, so the students were still going strong. Flareup continued into the base since she still had shrapnel in her seams.

Red Alert was in the med bay. She looked up when she heard Flareup enter. "What happened?"

"A human threw a grenade," explained Flareup. "Nobody died, but I kind of jumped on it."

Red Alert sighed. "That's something Rodimus would do…" She gestured at the medical berth. "Have a seat. This is a pretty simple fix."

Flareup sat on the medical berth. Then Red Alert left. Flareup blinked. Why would Red Alert need to leave when it was supposed to be a simple fix?

Her question was answered when Red Alert returned…with Swoop. Flareup blinked. "Swoop?"

"Swoop keeps sneaking into the med bay," explained Red Alert. "Learning about simple procedures keeps him from causing trouble." She opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of tweezers. She carefully removed a piece of shrapnel and placed it in a small metal container. Then she handed the tweezers to Swoop. "Be very careful. Don't just yank the shrapnel out. You need to be gentle."

Swoop nodded. "Gentle…" Swoop promptly started trying to wiggle the shrapnel out of Flareup, a look of complete seriousness on his face.

It was actually kind of adorable. Flareup didn't think Swoop would appreciate being called adorable though so she kept silent and let him continue his given task

Later:

"A human with a cerebro shell?" asked Rodimus. "I thought those only worked on mechanical life forms."

"Oh!" interjected Wheeljack. "I have a theory! A cerebro shell works by interrupting the signals the processor produces and producing its own electrical signals to make the bot move around. It's kind of obvious the bot is being controlled after a while. Human brains…okay I'm not sure how they work exactly, but electrical signals are involved so someone could alter cerebro shells so that they could work on the life forms of this planet. Although, if that is the case, it appears to be imperfect…which allowed this guy to run around and act normally so that no one thought he was being controlled."

Everyone blinked at the explanation. "Right…" said Rodimus. "And are you absolutely sure it was a cerebro shell?" asked Rodimus.

"Yeah, I've seen 'em before," said Brawn. "It was smaller, but definitely the same tech. Besides, the guy wouldn't have run if it was nothing."

Rodimus nodded. "Since there's evidence the Decepticons might be involved, the police have agreed to share their files on the case with us. It's sort of at a standstill until someone finds Hector Dialonzo. Is there anyone here who's an expert at tracking?"

"Try Silverbolt," said Ratchet. "Canines are supposed to be good at picking up scents."

"Right…Any other information?" asked Rodimus.

"Not that I could find. The officer assigned to us wasn't very forthcoming," muttered Brawn.

Rodimus sighed. "Right. I'll talk to Silverbolt about tracking Hector Dialonzo." Rodimus promptly walked out of the room.

"So, the meeting's over?" asked Hot Shot.

"Looks that way," muttered Kup.

Rodimus managed to find Silverbolt after a couple of minutes. He was curled up in his alt mode on the living room floor with the Dinobots. Bumblebee, Sari, and Prowl were sitting on the couch. Bulkhead was using his back kibble as a chair next to the couch. Flareup was in a beanbag chair. They were watching a nature documentary. "Can't we watch something else?" begged Bumblebee. "It's boring!"

"I've seen what you like," said Sari. "My kids aren't watching that junk."

"Hey, Silverbolt." Said bot lifted his head. "Can you track someone by scent?" asked Rodimus.

"I can, why?"

"We got someone who might be working with Decepticons," explained Rodimus. "He made a run for it. Can you track him?"

"Do you mean a robot or a human?" asked Silverbolt.

"Human."

"Humans are fairly easy to track if I have a scent sample."

Rodimus blinked. "A sample? Why do you need a sample?"

"I cannot just pick out a scent from nowhere if I do not know what I am looking for," explained Silverbolt. "There are just too many different humans and scents. I have to have a sample by itself before I can try to pick it out. Otherwise, the most I can tell you is the species."

"Okay…" Looks like this wasn't going to be as simple as Rodimus thought. "Where would I get a sample?"

"An article of clothing."

"Where am I supposed to get his clothes?" asked Rodimus.

"You could try his home."

"I don't know where he lives!" said Rodimus.

Silverbolt shrugged and put his head back on his paws. "Then I cannot track him."

Rodimus groaned. "You mean he could be anywhere and there's no way for us to track him?!"

"No. I doubt he has been able to leave Detroit yet," said Silverbolt. "It takes work to disappear nowadays."

Elsewhere:

"Finally found my house," muttered Nancy. She originally planned on going to Sumdac Systems, but then Soundwave and commed her and said some sort of incident occurred and not to go there.

Nancy had promptly decided to head home instead. Everyone should be there, right?

Ravage suddenly contacted her, saying that talking to her parents and telling them who she was was a bad idea. Why was that a bad idea?

Nancy knocked on the door. She waited for a few minutes before her dad answered it. "Daddy!" She hugged him.

Spike sputtered and pushed her off. "Who're you?!"

"It's me, Nancy."

Spike stared at her for a minute. Then he got a furious look on his face. "Look, I don't know who you are, but how dare you come here and make a joke like that!"

"What? I'm not-

"My daughter is missing, we don't even know if she's alive, and you think it's funny to come here and pretend to be her?!"

"But I'm-"

"You leave, right now, and if I ever see you again, I will call the police and make sure you're arrested!" Then Spike slammed the door in Nancy's face.

Nancy just stared, completely in shock. Ravage snuck out and carefully pulled Nancy to an out of sight location. He nudged her carefully, but Nancy didn't respond. She appeared to be in some sort of shock. Ravage contacted Soundwave and requested assistance.

Soundwave didn't know what to do either. He suggested trying to get Nancy back to base before she broke down.

"He didn't believe me," Nancy suddenly whispered. "Why didn't he believe me?"

Ravage didn't have a good answer. All he could think to do was wrap around her as she collapsed and started crying her heart out.

Eventually, Ravage did manage to corral Nancy back to their base. They had another new arrival: Hector Dialonzo. Laserbeak had evacuated him and brought him to the base when he'd been found out. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Nancy, who still had her hologram on. "You have another human accomplice?"

"Negative." Soundwave watched as Nancy went to her corner and curled up. He told Laserbeak to man the console and walked over to Nancy. Nancy immediately picked him up and cuddled him. They stayed like that for several minutes.

"Why didn't he believe me?" asked Nancy.

"Nancy: Does not look or sound like previous form. Hologram: Only disguises you as adult female human. It does not make you appear as you previously did."

"But he's my Daddy. Shouldn't he be able to tell?"

"Spike Witwicky: Only human. Human senses: Poor. Most would not be able to tell what you are."

"A robot?" The hologram turned off.

Soundwave shook his head. "Negative. Nancy: Techno-organic." Unlike the others Soundwave knew of, Nancy looked like a fully mechanical Transformer. The only things that hinted that she wasn't were her eyes, which remained the same, and the fact she couldn't be picked up like other Transformers.

Nancy sighed. "But how am I supposed to get them to believe me?"

"Unknown."

Nancy frowned. She hated this. Being a robot was cool and all, but not if she couldn't stay with her family. And how was she supposed to do that if they didn't believe it was her? She was still having trouble believing she'd been turned into a robot herself…

And then an idea struck her. It wasn't exactly a good idea, but it was the only thing she could think of. "Hey…What if they were techno-organics too?"

_And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword._

"Really? Really?!"

"Okay, I'm gonna admit I feel like I deserve to get punched in the face for writing that…"

"I'm tempted to send you a flame myself."

"But you're one of the writers. You can't flame your own story…"

"We'll just see about that."

KHGiggle gulped and hurriedly turned towards the audience. "Um, yeah, so…I don't like what happened to Nancy either, but I'd always planned for her to be techno-organic, and everything afterwards seemed like something a young child would try…Feel free to flame me."

"That will not be a problem."

KHGiggle gave Vector a nervous look. "Er, okay, this is probably the most upsetting thing I've ever written! How do professional writers do this sort of thing on a regular basis?!"

"Well, for one, it usually doesn't involve children."

"I don't like involving children either! But what do you expect when-"

*BEEEEEEP*

_The Afterword has been cancelled due to the hosts having a rather vicious argument. We apologize for the inconvenience._


	8. Following Leads

Next day:

Today, Rodimus was working with Hot Shot. "I think you can leave the tracking thing to the human enforcers," said Hot Shot. "I mean…Flareup said that they have dogs trained to track humans."

"I get that, but what will they do when they find Hector?"

Hot Shot blinked. "I don't know. Arrest him I guess. He didn't really have much of a choice so maybe they'll institutionalize him or something."

"And?"

Hot Shot frowned. "I dunno. Maybe try to get him to tell them where the Decepticons are holed up."

"Exactly!" said Rodimus. "That's supposed to be our job!"

"Yeah, but would our interrogation methods work with a human?" asked Hot Shot. "Besides, I don't think they wanna fight the Decepticons again. They didn't do so well last time."

Rodimus rubbed his nasal ridge. "I know…It's just…I don't want the humans to be the ones to stumble across the Decepticons first. They'd probably be killed or enslaved like Dialonzo, especially if Megatron's with them!"

"…You really think Megatron's here?" asked Hot Shot.

Rodimus shuddered. "I hope not, but the repair crew and natives insist he was here."

Hot Shot shuddered and closed his optics for a klik. He'd never seen Megatron outside of a history vid, but the mech was…Hot Shot wasn't sure how to describe him. Something about him screamed 'Run! You'll die!', but there was also something elegant about him that made you want to trust him.

That combination had always scared Hot Shot for some reason.

Hot Shot was thankfully brought out of his scary musings by the sound of a bicycle bell. His optics were instinctively drawn towards the source. "Could you give me a klik?" He hurried to the sidewalk before Rodimus could answer. "Hi!"

The kids from the other day were clearly surprised. "Hi?" None of them had expected one of the bots to go out of their way to greet them so they were caught off guard.

"So, how are things going?" asked Hot Shot.

Rad and Alexis's eyes widened before they looked at Carlos, who had an odd look on his face. "Dude, you accused my dad of working with Decepticons!"

Hot Shot blinked. "Your dad?"

"Hector Dialonzo," provided Alexis.

Hot Shot's optics widened. "He's your dad?!"

"Yeah, and he'd never work with a Decepticon!" insisted Carlos.

"And he wouldn't kidnap my dad," continued Brad. "They've been friends for years."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not saying he's…willing. Brawn saw a cerebro shell on him. That means he was being mind controlled by someone," explained Hot Shot. "He's just as much an innocent victim as the kidnapping victims!"

Carlos paused. "So…you're not going to arrest him?"

"No! At least…I don't think so. It's kind of tricky when mind control is involved," admitted Hot Shot. "He'll probably need some kind of treatment though…" Hot Shot wasn't sure what sort of treatment, but it couldn't be healthy to have a cerebro shell attached for so long.

"Do you think anyone else has one of these cerebro shells?" asked Alexis.

Hot Shot shrugged. "I dunno. Flareup and Brawn only picked up on that one. I think the police are going to be keeping an optic out for them from now on."

"And my dad," muttered Carlos.

"Hey, I'm sorry for what happened to your dad, really," said Hot Shot. "But he wouldn't have run if it was nothing, and, well, it would've been bad if he hadn't been found out. The Decepticons could've kept using him to obtain sensitive information, and no one would realize that he needed help."

"…You will help, right?" asked Carlos.

Hot Shot smiled. "As much as we can."

"Excuse me," interjected Rodimus. "But if Hector Dialonzo is your creator, that means you share a residence with him, right?"

Carlos looked downcast. "Well, not anymore…"

"Is there any way you get us something of his that we can use to track him?" asked Rodimus.

Alexis gave Rodimus a look. "Really? That's the first thing you say to him after everything he just said?"

"But why would you need to track him?" asked Rad. "The police are already tracking him, and they have bloodhounds."

"We got Silverbolt," countered Rodimus.

"I think bloodhounds are better," insisted Rad.

"Yeah, but what if they do find him? He's probably with at least one Decepticon," pointed out Rodimus. "If the police find the Decepticons, they'll probably be killed."

That made the children shift nervously. Eventually, Carlos broke the silence. "I don't think either would be able to find him. He was in Black Ops. He knows how to hide his scent." He shrugged. "But I can get you something anyway. It's worth a try."

Rodimus nodded with a grin. "Great! Just find us when you get something!"

The kids just nodded and rode off. Hot Shot frowned. "Alexis was right. That was pretty rude. Rad's creator is missing, Hector's creator may have been enslaved, and you just went and asked them for something."

Rodimus frowned. "This is a serious situation. We need to do whatever we can to find the Decepticons, and the police still aren't working with us so we have to do some of the procedures ourselves."

"…Yes sir…"

Decepticon base:

Megatron growled at the latest report from Soundwave. Hector Dialonzo had been exposed and was now being forced to hide with Soundwave. Megatron was debating whether he should kill the human now or see if he still had a use.

If nothing else he could be used to obtain food for the scientists trying to decipher the space bridge blue prints.

As Megatron was debating Hector's fate, the computer let out a chime that let him know someone was trying to contact him. After checking to see if he recognized the address, he opened the link. "Shockwave."

Shockwave bowed onscreen. "My liege."

"What news do you have for me?"

"I have very good news. The Autobot council still refrains from informing the public at large of your return or the fate of the Allspark."

Megatron snorted. The idiocy of those old fools never ceased to amaze him. "Typcial Autobots, hoping that a problem will go away if they ignore it."

"No news of reinforcements either. Unless you give the officers stationed here a reason to request further troops, you will only need to worry about them."

Megatron smirked. "And you have already given me quite a bit of information on those bots."

"That leads to the main reason I contacted you," said Shockwave. "I found a piece of information that I believe will make things for you considerably easier."

Megatron raised an optic ridge. "And that would be?"

"One of the bots on Earth is actually an expert on space bridge technology." Shockwave brought up a picture of said bot. "The tests indicate that he's actually quite knowledgeable in the area. If you are able to abduct him, he should be able to construct a bridge for you."

Megatron stared. "The big clumsy green one?"

"Yes, Bulkhead doesn't seem like the type," admitted Shockwave. "He did express an interest in space bridges though."

"You know him?"

"Yes, he was one of the bots in my boot camp squad." Shockwave paused. "Actually, all the bots that were in that squad with me are on Earth right now. Odd coincidence."

Megatron nodded absentmindedly. "I will be sure to have this Autobot under surveillance. I will need to be very careful when I retrieve him." He didn't want to damage the Autobot too badly after all.

Later:

"Good news! We got a something to track Dialonzo with!" announced Rodimus, holding up said article: a shirt.

The rest of the bots stared. "I thought we were leaving that to the human authorities," said Wheeljack.

Rodimus shook his head. "The cerebro shell means that there's some sort of Decepticon involvement. That means we need to get involved."

"Did you at least clear it with the human authorities?" asked Flareup. "They're already pretty angry at us. You don't wanna accidentally mess up their investigation."

Rodimus shrugged. "I'll keep an eye out. It's easy to identify the enforcers."

"They can change their clothes," deadpanned Sari.

Rodimus blinked like he'd forgotten that aspect of human physiology. He wouldn't be the first. "Well, they haven't located Dialonzo, so they can't fault us for looking as well." He tossed the shirt to Silverbolt. "So? Can you use that?"

Silverbolt sniffed at the shirt a bit. "Yes, it has a faint scent. It should work."

Rodimus grinned. "Great! Anyone else wanna come?"

Kup stood up. "I'll go."

"Sweet! Free day!" shouted Bumblebee. "Anyone wanna go to a drive in movie?"

"No, said Ratchet. "And you're not going out unless you've got a partner."

"I can go with him," volunteered Hot Shot.

"You're kidding, right?" said Wasp.

"Anyone else?" asked Rodimus. No one volunteered. "Really?"

"You're going to attract enough attention as it is," snarked Ratchet.

"I have things to do," said Red Alert.

"There's this thing I wanna try involving nanites and petroleum jelly," said Wheeljack.

"The less time I have to spend in the human city, the better," said Ironhide. He still hadn't warmed up to the human race in general.

"I'm gonna try and find some decent food," said Sari.

"The Dinobots are liable to break something," pointed out Prowl. As if to prove his point, a loud crash came from their room.

"I'm gonna paint the ceiling," said Bulkhead.

Several bots looked at Bulkhead like they couldn't believe what the other had just said. "You're what?" choked out Wasp.

"Painting the ceiling."

"Okay, well, I hope you guys have fun," said Rodimus. He stepped away from the door and gestured for Silverbolt. "After you."

Silverbolt nodded and walked through, transforming into his beast mode as he did so. Rodimus and Kup were close behind him.

The rest of the Autobots split apart to do whatever they were planning to do that day.

"The movie isn't until night," said Bumblebee to Bulkhead. "You wanna come too?"

Bulkhead shrugged. "Maybe. If I'm done with the ceiling."

"What sort of movie is it?" asked Hot Shot.

Bumblebee grinned. "Frankenstein meets the Wolfman!"

Hot Shot's processor screeched to a halt. "What meets what?"

Outside:

Silverbolt sniffed at the ground. He was picking up all sorts of interesting scents, but none that matched Hector Dialonzo's. He'd expected that though.

Hector was last seen at Sumdac Systems, so he decided to make his way there first.

"You got anything yet?" asked Rodimus.

"No," said Silverbolt. Contrary to popular belief, he couldn't just pick a scent out of nowhere even after he knew what he was looking for. "This is going to take quite a while. You need to be patient."

Kup snickered. "Think you can handle that?"

Rodimus gave Kup a look. "Sure, it can't take that long…"

Base:

"No, no, no, no." Flareup paused as she examined the particular channel she'd stopped on. "No. No, no, no, no."

Wasp groaned. "Will you pick something already?"

Flareup somehow managed to stop on a channel showcasing a monster truck driving over several parked cars. Ironhide and Wasp made a freaked out sound. Flareup went back to changing channels. "No, no, no."

"Humans are disgusting," proclaimed Ironhide.

"You'd already decided that before you arrived," muttered Flareup. She suddenly brightened. "Oh! This looks good!"

The two mechs turned their attention towards the TV screen. It was showing a documentary on the history of the Aztecs. "It's a history documentary," said Ironhide. Flareup nodded. "You want to watch a history documentary…a human history documentary?"

"I find the idea that you can learn about history from items you dig up amazing," admitted Flareup. "Why doesn't anyone on Cybertron do that sort of thing?"

"Because we keep all our information and history stored on data tracks," deadpanned Wasp.

"Oh?" asked Flareup. "What about the Great Purge?"

Before she could get a response, Bulkhead walked in with a ladder and some paint. He climbed on top of it and started painting the ceiling black.

"Is that ladder safe?" asked Flareup.

"Yeah, Wheeljack said he reinforced it so it could hold me up."

Flareup glanced and the ladder and nodded. Wheeljack couldn't make a simple ladder explode, and if he said it was reinforced, it was reinforced.

Wasp took a moment to stare and wonder what Bulkhead was trying to do. Then he decided he didn't care and tried to steal the remote. Flareup slapped his servo away.

"You were serious about painting?" asked Ironhide.

Bulkhead nodded. "Yep!"

"Why?"

"It's fun! Almost as fun as space bridges!"

Ironhide gave Bulkhead a look. "You are so weird."

Outside:

The tracking group had reached Sumdac Systems. "I don't think he's gonna come back here," pointed out Rodimus.

"But he's been here before," explained Silverbolt. "I might be able to pick up his scent."

Rodimus looked around. They were getting some odd looks from the humans. "How long will that take?"

"There are a lot of scents to sort through, and they go in several directions," answered Silverbolt. "And his will not be as fresh as the others."

"Sounds about right," said Kup. "That's how Hound described it."

Rodimus blinked. "Who?"

"Autobot tracker," explained Kup. "Only other bot I ever met with a sense of smell."

"…His name is Hound?" Rodimus asked doubtfully.

"I needed to come up with an English translation, okay?"

Back at base:

"Okay, so you just gotta be back by 10?" asked Hot Shot. "I'm pretty sure the movie will be over by then. Shouldn't take too long to get you back to your houses…Okay, I'll pick you up around 7. I'll see you then."

"Who're you talking to?" asked Bumblebee.

"Just inviting some friends to go with us."

Bumblebee perked up. "Really? Sweet!" Then he suddenly frowned. "You're not inviting Ironhide and Wasp, are you?"

"No, I'm inviting some human kids I met," explained Hot Shot. "They seemed like they could use some cheering up." Then he paused. "Wait. Weren't you in the same boot camp squad as Wasp and Ironhide?"

Bumblebee winced. "We didn't get along."

"Really? I mean, I know you guys disagree a lot, but boot camp squads usually become really close."

Bumblebee shrugged. "Yeah, well, I don't know why they did at the beginning of the training, but after I said that there was a Decepticon spy in our group, they really didn't like me."

Hot Shot nodded. "Wasp mentioned that before. Why would you say something like that?"

"'Cause I saw someone talking to Megatron while I was hiding in a supply room," said Bumblebee matter-of-factly.

Hot Shot's optics widened. That was serious. "You did? Who?"

Bumblebee shrugged. "No idea. I couldn't see over the crates. Pretty sure it wasn't Bulkhead though. He's too big…"

"You don't know?" asked Hot Shot. "You mean there's still a spy running around?"

Bumblebee shrugged. "I dunno. I have no idea how that spy stuff works."

Hot Shot stared. This…was possibly the scariest thing he'd heard since he arrived on Earth.

Trackers:

Rodimus looked around. For some reason, Silverbolt had suddenly taken a detour into a park. "This place seems too public."

Silverbolt nodded in agreement. "It is." He started clawing at the ground.

Rodimus glanced towards Kup, who was in an argument with various parents about how his cy-gar wasn't a cigar and he needed it for medical reasons. "What's a cigar?"

"Tobacco leaves in a wrapping that humans smoke. They are similar to cigarettes, which are very addictive and are bad for one's health." Silverbolt suddenly transformed, picked up something, and held it out to Rodimus. "Here."

Rodimus blinked. It was an Allspark shard. He carefully picked it up. "I didn't know you could pick up on Allspark shards."

"I cannot. The air around them…It smells like the air after lightning," explained Silverbolt.

"Huh." Rodimus carefully placed the shard in a hollow in his frame. "I'm guessing Dialonzo hasn't been by here."

"Not that I can tell," confirmed Silverbolt. "This just seemed out of place so I wanted to see if it was dangerous."

Rodimus glanced around at the children running around. If a Decepticon had picked up on the signature… "Why didn't Sari notice it?"

Silverbolt shrugged. "Perhaps the Allspark does not want her to notice?"

Rodimus also shrugged. That wasn't important right now. He'd worry later.

Back at base:

After failing to get Flareup to give up the remote, Ironhide and Wasp had decided to go to the shooting range. They'd been shooting for a few minutes when a shell shocked Hot Shot had come over. "I thought you said Bumblebee made up the story about a Decepticon spy!"

That was pretty much the last thing they'd expected. "What brought that up?" asked Ironhide.

"Bumblebee said he saw someone talking to Megatron. That's not something you joke around about. Ever."

The two friends snorted. "He's still going with that story?" asked Wasp.

"Yeah…" Hot Shot looked between the two. "Why aren't you two concerned about that?"

"Hate to break it to ya, but no one ever contacted Megatron," said Ironhide. "Bumbler made the whole thing up."

"He makes up all sort of stuff to get bots to pay attention to him," continued Wasp. "Don't know why Bulkhead ever listened to him."

Hot Shot frowned. "But that doesn't make any sense. Why would he make up something like that?"

"'Cause he's a half-breed," said Ironhide.

"Half-breed?" Hot Shot took a moment to search his memory banks for the phrase. "He has a Decepticon creator?!"

"Yeah, everyone knows," said Wasp. "How'd you miss that?"

"I don't remember seeing it in the briefing," said Hot Shot, which was odd as he thought that was something he'd remember.

"Well, everyone knows," said Wasp. "Ask around. They'll tell you the same thing."

"Right…" Hot Shot was so confused.

The search group:

Silverbolt had now led them to the suburbs. They were getting even more strange looks. "How'd we end up here?" asked Rodimus

"I guess he lives…here," said Silverbolt, stopping in front a house.

Carlos waved from the lawn where he was messing with his skateboard. "Hi Mr. Hot Rod!"

Kup let out a gruff laugh at that. Rodimus groaned. "Hi Carlos. I'm guessing the reason Silverbolt tracked your creators' scent here is because it's his house."

"Probably."

"…And how did you know my name?"

Carlos blinked. "That's your name? I just called you that because you're painted up like a Hot Rod."

That set Kup off again. Rodimus sighed. "Okay, maybe you're right about the paint job."

"'Bout time you figured that out."

"Right, Silverbolt…" Rodimus trailed off when he saw Carlos scratching Silverbolt under his chin, much to the delight of the latter. "Silverbolt?"

"Hm?"

"Were there any other scent trails to try?"

"Yes, several of them, I simply followed the strongest initially," explained Silverbolt. "We will return to the tower. I will follow another strong scent trail. Perhaps we will find him this time."

"Right…We better get going."

"Tell Hot Shot I'll see him tonight!" shouted Carlos.

Rodimus blinked. "Huh?"

Autobot base:

*Wham!*

"Ow…" Sludge sat up from where she'd been thrown into the side of the base. "Tiny bot strong."

Brawn wiped the dirt off his servos. "Of course. You gotta be strong to survive the Great War."

"Brawn!" The two instantly spun in the direction of the shout as Hot Shot came over. "We gotta a problem! Bumblebee's half Decepticon!"

Brawn blinked. "He is?"

"Yeah! And I said I'd see a movie with him later! What do I do?"

Brawn raised an optic ridge. "Why would ya need to do anything?"

Hot Shot gave Brawn a look of disbelief. "Because he's half Decepticon!"

Sludge was confused by this point. "Me Sludge not get it."

"You know what Decepticons are like," said Hot Shot.

Sludge tilted her head. "Mean?"

"Yes!"

"Bee not mean," said Sludge.

"Yeah, but he's got Con programming," explained Hot Shot. "He could be faking it."

"But Bee help me Sludge fight crazy Three Face," said Sludge.

Hot Shot paused. "Okay, we've got these things called double agents."

"Hot Shot," interrupted Brawn. "I can already see this is gonna be a problem so I'm gonna be frank. There were plenty of Autobots who paired up with Decepticons and had sparklings."

Hot Shot's optics widened. "What?"

"Yeah, it wasn't common, but it happened," continued Brawn. "It didn't cause any problems. You had good ones, you had bad ones, and when the war started, you had some that joined the Cons, and some that joined the Autobots. It was a personal preference. You probably still got some Autobots with Decepticon coding and Decepticons with Autobot coding out there."

Hot Shot seemed to be speechless by this point and could only get out a half strangled sound. Sludge tapped his head a couple of times.

Brawn crossed his arms. "It is a bit odd to find a bot like that who's Bumblebee's age, but he was raised by Ratchet, so I wouldn't worry about picking up anything from his creators."

"Are you telling me to just…pretend he's a full-coded Autobot?" asked Hot Shot.

Brawn rolled his optics. "I'm not telling you to do anything. But you better remember: He's half Decepticon, but he's half Autobot too."

"…Right."

"Me Sludge not get it," said Sludge. "Why it big deal? Bee nice. Why you Hot Shot think Bee bad?"

Hot Shot winced. Neither of them seemed too concerned about Bumblebee's lineage. "…Maybe I should give him a chance?"

Brawn snorted at Hot Shot's tone. "Yeah, you do that."

Search party:

"I am not going down there."

"Why not?"

Silverbolt gave Rodimus a look. "It is a sewer. It is full of fecal matter and all manner of trash. You can go down there with no worries of injury or infection. I cannot. And I cannot pick up the scent in there. The stink of the sewer covers it up."

"So you lost the scent?" Silverbolt nodded. "Can you try another trail?"

"I can. There were other trails to follow."

Base:

"You pull in with a circular motion." Prowl demonstrated. Snarl copied the motion. "Now kick like so, pivot, and perform a reverse punch."

"There you are!" Ratchet stormed over. "I've been looking all over for you."

Prowl made an annoyed sound. "I'm in the middle of a lesson."

"Next to those two?"

A few feet away, Grimlock and Slag were seemingly trying to kill each other. Prowl glanced at them. "Someone has to make sure they don't kill each other."

"Com someone else. We've got an appointment." He grabbed Prowl and started dragging him towards the base.

Prowl, knowing better than to resist Ratchet when he was like this shouted towards Snarl. "Keep an optic on your brothers!"

Snarl made an upset sound at his lesson getting interrupted but did turn to watch Grimlock and Slag continue to beat each other up.

Ratchet made a detour through the living room, where the couch had been pushed to the side, Bulkhead was messing with some sort of cube, and Flareup was sitting on the floor. No one commented on how the ceiling and walls were now black.

When Ratchet entered the med bay he paused for a second. "Swoop?"

Swoop waved. "Hi!"

Ratchet raised an optic ridge and gave Red Alert a questioning look. "He just started coming in here," explained Red Alert. "He kept asking questions so I gave him some simple chores and first aid lessons to keep him out of the way."

Ratchet briefly recalled how he and Prowl had ordered Swoop to stay in the med bay immediately after the Allspark Battle in case Flareup had suddenly gone downhill. He'd figure out if that had something to do with it later. For now, he made Prowl sit on the medical berth. "We're gonna do an examination of Prowl's processor."

Prowl groaned. "Again? I haven't had an episode since the Elite Guard left."

"You still need to know what brings them on at the very least," said Ratchet, opening a few ports on Prowl's helm. Red Alert handed Ratchet the appropriate cables, which he plugged in. "Hopefully the improvement in equipment will give us something."

Several oscillating displays appeared on the monitor. Swoop pointed at the top one. "What that?"

"His general processor activity," explained Red Alert.

"What that?"

"The general sensory reception region."

"What that?"

"The autonomous systemic region."

"What that?"

"The voluntary procedure region."

"What that?"

"The audial region."

"What that?"

"The visual region."

"What that?"

"The linguistics region."

"Okay." Swoop was quiet for a second. "What all that mean?"

So Red Alert slowly and carefully explained what all that meant in the simplest terms she could think of. Swoop listened intently. Ratchet and Prowl exchanged a surprised look. "Did you know about this?" asked Ratchet.

"I knew that Swoop went to the med bay quite often," admitted Prowl. "I thought he just had a crush on Red Alert."

The two watched as Red Alert continued to explain the regions of the processor to Swoop. It was a rather surreal thing to see.

Maybe they could get Swoop to do repair work on the other Dinobots. They still tended to growl, snap, or whimper at others who tried to fix them.

Search team:

"Absolutely nothing," muttered Rodimus.

Silverbolt, back in his bipedal form, shrugged. "It happens. There are ways to cover scents. Humans are intelligent enough that they learn these methods more easily than most. Hector Dialonzo likely knew he would need at least one method in case he was discovered and did research to see what would work best."

Rodimus shuddered. "But a sewer?!"

Silverbolt nodded. "He is a survivor. He does what is necessary to live."

Kup nodded and pat both on the shoulder. "Right. Let's head back. I want to see if the place is still standing after leaving the Dinobots and Wheeljack on their own."

"They know better than to damage their home," said Silverbolt.

"Wheeljack doesn't."

Silverbolt paused before nodding. "True. He told us stories about memorable explosions. I think he enjoys them."

Rodimus stretched. "Well, back to the drawing board."

Base:

Sari walked back onto the base grounds, dragging a deer and some wood behind her. "I'm back! Is everyone still alive?"

Snarl looked over from where he was practicing the kata Prowl had been showing him earlier. "Yes."

"Great." Sari promptly started skinning and gutting the deer.

This is what the search party returned to. Sari waved. "I found a dear. Want a piece when I'm done?"

Silverbolt studied it for a moment. "A leg or two would be nice." The food that was being donated by the animal shelter was okay, but he'd prefer something fresher. "How long will the preparation take?"

"Not too long. I'm almost done with the gutting."

Silverbolt nodded and turned to Rodimus. "May I request a spar from you?"

Rodimus blinked. "Why?"

"I wish to see how you fight," explained Silverbolt. "And if I am not mistaken, the only time you have fought since arriving was when Wreck-gar was retrieved. You may…lose your edge if you do not stay active."

Rodimus tilted his head at the techno-organic before glancing at Kup. The war veteran shrugged. "He's a strong fighter, and you do need to stay in fighting shape."

Rodimus nodded. "Okay." He turned back to Silverbolt. "When and where?"

"Here and now is fine."

The two moved away from the other three present. Rodimus pulled his bow out of his subspace. "Any rules?"

Silverbolt pulled his 'tomahawk' out of the back holster Wheeljack had made for him. "No killing blows. You?"

"First to give up loses," said Rodimus.

The two stared at each other for a moment before simultaneously making their move.

Rodimus pulled back the string to fire an arrow, but was forced to dodge. Silverbolt had immediately thrown his tomahawk. He hadn't waited to see it hit either. As soon as he'd thrown it, he was rushing in the direction Rodimus had dodged.

Rodimus ducked a strike for his head and elbowed at Silverbolt's midsection. Silverbolt grabbed it just as it hit his midsection. Then he jerked it in a way that it made a disturbing cracking sound.

Rodimus let out pained yelp. "You dislocated my servo!" Silverbolt didn't answer. He just growled and tried to bite Rodimus's head. Rodimus managed to escape by kicking at Silverbolt's knee and knocking him off balance enough to jump back and back.

Rodimus glanced at the audience. Snarl was in some sort of stance but glancing over. Sari seemed more interested in her food. Kup was watching with his arms crossed.

Rodimus's distraction cost him. Silverbolt spun and caught him with his wings, leaving several gashes across Rodimus's chassis. Rodimus quickly brought up his bow and fired a single arrow, but the dislocated arm meant he couldn't hold his bow properly and the arrow went off course. Silverbolt didn't bother to dodge it. Instead he jumped forward and ripped the bow right out of Rodimus's servos before throwing it too far away for Rodimus to retrieve it. Rodimus was starting to panic. Why was Silverbolt being so violent? He took a step backwards and tripped over something.

It was the tomahawk Silverbolt had thrown at the beginning of the fight. It was still embedded in the ground, and Rodimus had been so focused on Silverbolt that he'd forgotten about it completely. Silverbolt easily pulled it out of the ground and swung at Rodimus. Rodimus closed his optics in preparation for a large amount of pain.

The pain never came. Rodimus opened his optics cautiously. The tomahawk's edge was less than an inch from his optic. If Silverbolt had gone through with the move, he'd be dead. "I win," said Silverbolt. Then he grabbed Rodimus's good servo and pulled him to his feet.

Rodimus glanced at the audience again. Sari was still focused on the food. Snarl was still doing his kata. Kup was observing them with a small frown on his face.

Silverbolt took advantage of the distraction to force Rodimus's arm back into its socket. Rodimus shrieked again. "Don't do that!"

"My apologies. Would you like assistance getting to the med bay?"

Rodimus winced. "That's fine. Just let me get my bow." It was suddenly tossed towards them. Rodimus reflexively caught it.

Kup snorted. "You better go straight to the med bay or Ratchet'll rip you a new one."

Rodimus nodded and with one last glance at Silverbolt, who looked concerned but entirely unrepentant, he walked towards the base.

He was caught off guard by the sight of the new ceiling design, but decided to ignore it.

When he reached the med bay, Ratchet and Red Alert were still trying to figure out what was up with Prowl. Swoop was happily messing around with a welder and some pieces of metal. The two medics' optics widened when they saw him. "What happened to you?!"

"I had a bad match with Silverbolt."

Ratchet muttered some choice words under his breath while Prowl took a hint and left. Rodimus climbed onto the vacated berth. Red Alert started looking over his chassis. "These aren't as deep as they initially look. We just need to stop the energon flow and apply a patch job."

"He got my arm too."

"Done," said Ratchet.

Rodimus blinked and rotated the arm. The faint twinge from getting dislocated was gone. "That was pretty fast."

Ratchet just nodded as he started applying a salve with nanites that would stop the energon flow and repair the micro-lines. "You can still transform with where it's located, but I wouldn't recommend any fighting for the next couple of solar cycles." He quickly slapped a patch on the injury. "Let that sit for a few breems, and then come back here. 'Till then, I need to have a chat with a certain techno-organic."

A bit later:

Hot Shot rolled up with Rad, Carlos, and Alexis in his interior. "Wow, how long has that been going on?"

Ratchet was yelling at Silverbolt, who looked rather flustered and like he'd like to go hide somewhere. Sari and Snarl were nowhere to be seen, but Bumblebee was watching them. "A couple of breems…Something about a fight getting out of hand or something."

"Oh, that's the guy who was at my house earlier!" said Carlos. "Only he was on all fours then."

"He's really big," commented Alexis. "How did no one notice him before now?"

Bumblebee turned his attention to the kids. "Hi! You're Hot Shot's friends? I'm Bumblebee."

"I'm Rad."

"I'm Carlos."

"I'm Alexis."

"Nice to meet you!" Bumblebee briefly turned back to Ratchet. "Hey Ratchet! I'm going to the movie now!" Ratchet made no move to acknowledge the minibot, but Bumblebee transformed and went off with them anyway. He went back to talking to the kids through Hot Shot's radio. "It's great to see that not all humans are scared of us."

"My parents are hippies," said Alexis. "The encourage acceptance for all races…including giant alien robots."

"I'm interested in robotics," admitted Rad, proving that he was his father's son.

Carlos shrugged. "I just think the whole idea is cool! I wish I could turn into a car! Wouldn't that be so much better than walking everywhere?"

"You skateboard most of the time," pointed out Alexis.

"I wouldn't be able to move on my own if I turned into a skateboard." That comment got some laughs.

"Should we be worried about the Decepticons though?" asked Alexis. "You guys are at least cleaning up after yourselves, which is good, but we don't know a lot about them."

"Of course they're bad!" said Carlos. "They wouldn't have mind control if they were good guys."

"Yeah, they're really nasty," said Bumblebee. "Flareup says it's 'cause of discrimination and banishment, but I've never heard of a Decepticon that's even close to being nice."

Hot Shot made an odd sound. Rad gave him a worried look. "Are you okay? My mom's car made a sound like that once just before the engine stopped working."

Alexis shuddered. "We were stuck on the side of the interstate for 3 hours in the middle of summer."

"I'm fine!" Hot Shot said hurriedly. "I just thought I hit something."

"I didn't feel anything," said Carlos.

"Yeah, I have really good suspension," explained Hot Shot. "It's in all land based Cybertronians so we don't have to worry about stuff like pot holes."

The kids exchanged looks but decided not to say anything. Hot Shot decided to change the subject, just in case. "So, what's this movie about again?"

"It's about a werewolf running into Frankenstein."

"Frankenstein's monster," corrected Alexis. "Frankenstein is the doctor who created it. The movie monster was never actually named."

"That's awful," said Bumblebee. "He couldn't even be bothered to give his creation something to call himself?"

Hot Shot suddenly wondered if Bumblebee had had a name when he'd first been created. Names are very important in Cybertronian society. Refusing to give a bot a name or call them by their name was as good as saying 'You shouldn't exist.'

"I think I heard he was named Adam in the original novel," admitted Alexis.

Rad snorted. "Arrogant much?"

"I don't get it," said Bumblebeee

"In the Bible, the first man and woman were named Adam and Eve," explained Rad.

"Did someone make them?" asked Bumblebee

"God."

"Oh, he's like Primus, right? That is pretty arrogant."

They reached the drive-in after a few more minutes of pointless conversation. The kids and bots paid for their tickets and found a decent spot at the front so that everyone could see the screen. The kids settled down once the projector started up.

"_Hey, are you okay Hot Shot?"_ asked Bumblebee. _"You've been awfully quiet."_

"_I…I was kind of talking to Ironhide and Wasp earlier."_

Bumblebee frowned mentally. _"They're your teammates. What could they say that could upset you that much?"_

Hot Shot decided to just get what the problem was out in the open. _"They said that you're a half-breed."_

Bumblebee felt shock. _"Oh…"_ Why, oh why, did everyone who knew about that have to tell everyone he met? Why couldn't they just leave him alone? _"They told you about that, huh?"_

"_Yeah…"_ Hot Shot felt a bit better now that he'd up and said it and decided to push on. _"Why didn't you say anything?"_

"_Because whenever bots find out about that, they treat me differently! I can count the number of bots who never let it bother them on one servo!"_

"_You can?"_

"_Yeah, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Prowl."_

"_Wait. What about Flareup?"_

"_She was suspicious of me for five and a half vorns. She's the only one that got past my Decepticon half."_

"_Oh…"_ That was actually quite depressing. _"The Earthbound Autobots like you."_

"_Yeah, well, they don't know since it's never come up. And they're neutrals anyway. Plus the Dinobots are still really young. I don't think they care about that sort of thing."_

"_So you're not telling them?"_

"_Not unless it comes up or they ask. That's the rule."_

"_Rule?"_

"_Yeah, Ratchet gave me a bunch of rules to follow when he adopted me. One was that I don't talk about my Decepticon coding unless it was a life or death situation or somebot outright asks about it."_

"_How's that worked out for you?"_

"_It would've probably worked better if everyone in our old home hadn't already known about it and Sentinel hadn't blabbed on the first day of training."_

There was a slightly awkward silence. _"Uh, how did…your creators even…you know?"_

Bumblebee made an awkward shrugging motion. _"Beats me. My carrier deactivated not too long after I was brought online, and he never told anyone what happened."_

"_Oh…What's it like?"_

"_I dunno…I don't think I act any different from a full coded Autobot. I mean…I don't have any urges to fight or hurt or that sort of thing. I'm just…me."_

"_That's it?"_

"_Yeah. I've never been able to figure out why it was such a big deal."_

Hot Shot was quiet as he thought for a moment. Was it a big deal? He wasn't really sure anymore. Ironhide and Wasp made it obvious that they thought so. Brawn didn't seem to care one way or another. Ratchet had gone so far as to raise Bumblebee, even knowing what he was.

"_I think…I need some more time to figure out how I feel about this."_

"_That's fine by me,"_ said Bumblebee. _"At least you're giving me a chance."_

Hot Shot wasn't sure why that made his fuel tanks rumble so queasily.

Back at base:

"Fish," said Sludge.

"Where?" asked Grimlock.

Sludge pointed at a particular group of stars from where the Earth clan were lying on the ground. "There."

Sari tilted her head. "I sort of see it. Has a pretty ugly face though."

"I see birdy," said Swoop.

"You always see birdy," said Slag.

"What are you doing?" asked Kup. He'd come out with some high grade and walked in on this scene. "We're supposed to recharge indoors to avoid rain."

"It is a game I play with my children," explained Silverbolt. "We make shapes using the stars, similar to connect-the-dots."

Kup looked up. He just saw stars, no shapes to speak of. He instinctively searched for familiar constellations, but reminded himself that he was on a completely different planet with a different arrangement of stars visible. Maybe he just lacked imagination. "Yeah, now that Ratchet's done yelling at you, mind if we have a little chat?"

"I see no reason why we cannot." Silverbolt made no move to get up.

"I meant privately," amended Kup.

Silverbolt considered it for a moment. "Very well. Sari, stay here."

"But-"

"Kup is trustworthy. He wants privacy," said Silverbolt as he stood up. "I respect him enough to do as he wishes. As should you."

Sari huffed, but didn't move to argue. "Spear."

The two grown mechs chose a rather nice place, the top of the base. "You ever look for Cybertron?" asked Kup.

"When I first came here," admitted Silverbolt, looking up. He decided to look at the forest in the distance instead. "I stopped a long time ago."

"You been here what? 1,000 stellar cycles?"

Silverbolt shrugged. "I cannot say for sure. A long time."

"You got thrown here by a transwarp explosion, right?" Silverbolt gave Kup a surprised look. "I asked around."

"I am…unsure. There was an explosion, bright light, pain…Then I was somewhere else entirely," recalled Silverbot. "Then everything was different." Silverbolt looked at his hands. "I was different."

"Yeah, I'm not gonna pry into what that was like," said Kup. "It got anything to do with why you ripped Rodimus a new one?"

Silverbolt gave him a confused look. "A new what?"

"…A sound thrashing."

"Oh. Rodimus is in charge. He wants to find the Decepticons. If he finds the Decepticons, he will find Megatron." Silverbolt gave Kup a pointed look.

"Hey, I believe you," said Kup. "You got the Allspark here. Of course Megatron would be attracted to this place."

Silverbolt nodded. "Rodimus would be obligated to fight Megatron."

"He'd want to fight Megatron," corrected Kup. "Rodimus is a good kid, but he's a hothead. I didn't name him Hot Rod just because of his paint job."

"You were his drill sergeant?" asked Silverbolt.

"Yeah, 'bout 10 vorns ago. Anyway, Rodimus would definitely fight Megatron," repeated Kup. "You going somewhere with this?"

"I fought Megatron. He broke my arm and wing. He would have killed me if he had not been interrupted by Prowl and the ship. I was lucky. Rodimus could not so much as touch me. What hope does he have against one such as Megatron?"

"Being a bit harsh, aren't ya?"

"I went easy on him," deadpanned Silverbolt.

Kup gave him a look of disbelief. "You dislocated his arm and tore off half his chassis, and you call that going easy?!"

"I did not break his arm when I could have," pointed out Silverbolt. "I positioned my wings so that they would be shallow instead of deep. He will recover in a short amount of time. His movement will not be hampered."

Kup thought for a second before snorting. "Still got you in trouble with Ratchet."

Silverbolt winced. "My isolation has damaged my social skills."

"No kidding. Your time on this planet has sure changed you Optimus."

Silverbolt nodded before what Kup said hit home and he jerked to attention. "What did you call me?"

"Optimus." Kup took a long sip of his high grade. "It's your name, isn't it?"

Silverbolt stared at him for a moment. "Is it that obvious?"

"Only if it's someone who knows you."

"Sentinel didn't recognize me," pointed out Silverbolt.

"Sentinel only sees what he wants," said Kup. "You have a grappling mod and you know how to use an ax or a tomahawk or whatever you wanna call it. They're both unusual traits. You went missing with no trace of your body so no one could say you were dead for sure. Your fighting style has changed, but there are still some obvious traces of the Autobot Academy style. You beat Rodimus in a straight up fight, and for all his faults, he's one of the best combatants I've trained. You'd have to be pretty good yourself to beat him. Not to mention you're the only bot I've seen use that trick where you trip your opponent with your weapon. And your voice isn't nearly as raspy as it was when I first got here. It's pretty much the same as it was before you became techno-organic."

"It is?" Silverbolt subconsciously rubbed his throat. "I did not realize." He tried to remember what he'd sounded like before. It was hard to say for sure, but now that he thought about it…His voice did seem similar.

The two were silent for a moment. "Can you tell me what happened to Elita?" asked Silverbolt. "I know Sentinel is a Prime in the Elite Guard."

"She's in the Ministry of Science, assistant to its head," answered Kup. "You gonna tell them?"

"I considered…But when I saw how he looked at me…" The shock and delight at seeing an old friend had quickly given way to hurt and disappointment. "Would they even believe me?"

"I have no idea," admitted Kup. "Elita could probably whip up some test to see if it's you."

"I do not think I could return to Cybertron," said Silverbolt.

"What? Why?"

"Look at me!" Silverbolt thought it was pretty obvious. "Even if the bots on Cybertron were not bothered by my organic half, my wings would make me look Decepticon. And I need organic food."

"Can't you just get used to energon again?"

Silverbolt made a face. "Have you ever tasted energon?"

"I don't know any bots who can taste."

"Just the taste…" Silverbolt shuddered at the memory of Ratchet trying to feed him. "I nearly threw up."

Kup sighed. "I see how that'd be a problem."

"I like Earth. It is…I do not have words to describe how it is different. More green? Softer? Brighter?" Silverbolt gave a frustrated growl. "More preferable. More natural."

"What about the Dinobots?" asked Kup. "Unless a colony is established, they'll eventually lose access to energon, even if we leave you an energon converter."

Silverbolt let out a whine tinged sigh. "I know. Sari and I can survive on this planet for as long as we wish. The Dinobots cannot. It is why I did not leave with Sari like I originally planned when the Decepticons first tried to abduct her. I could not do that to my grandchildren." Kup let out a snort that sounded suspiciously like laughter. "What?"

"Just funny thinking of you as a grandfather."

Silverbolt gave Kup a genuinely confused look. "Why is that funny?"

"You're just so young." Silverbolt continued to give Kup a confused look. "I can't think of anyone who wouldn't be surprised to hear you have a sparkling."

"I've raised several children," countered Silverbolt.

"That's not what I meant."

"What did you mean?"

Kup sighed. "Never mind. Forget I said anything." Obviously something was getting lost in translation. "You gonna tell anyone who you really are?"

"I had not planned to." Silverbolt glanced at Kup. "Should I?"

"Maybe not the ones who met you recently, but you should definitely tell the friends you had before your accident. Better make it soon too or they might hold it against ya. Slaggit, I'm upset you didn't think you could tell me."

Silverbolt's wings and ears drooped. "Apologies. I did not want you to think I lied and hate me for it."

Kup huffed. "Don't fall back into old habits." That was a problem Optimus had had in boot camp. He hated when his friends were angry with him, and he did what he could to avoid it…a little too much. Kup was pretty sure that was why Optimus had gone with Sentinel and Elita on that fool's errand in the first place. Whether he'd gotten better or worse at that, Kup couldn't say for sure. If he saw any further signs, he was going to stamp it out himself.

Silverbolt straightened. "Yes sir."

For a second, Kup could see the young, optimistic recruit eager to help in whatever way he could and hoping to hear an old war story. Then it was gone and the damaged partial organic with too old optics was back. Kup hated it. It reminded him too much of seeing young bots after coming back from a war that he sent them off to.

"Cybertron's right there," said Kup, pointing at a particular spot in the sky.

Silverbolt looked where Kup was pointing. It was a star…At least Silverbolt assumed it was the star Kup was pointing at. "It looks completely unremarkable compared to the others."

"Yeah…" Kup wasn't normally a philosophical bot, but he could admit there was something humbling about that.

Inside:

"Here it is. What do you think?" asked Bulkhead.

"Look at all the hypno thingies!" said Wreck-gar. "I'm getting sleepy."

"I still can't believe you managed to do all this in a solar cycle," commented Flareup.

The ceiling and all four walls in the rec room had been painted black. There were also all sorts of designs in glowing colors painted on every available space. "It's very nice," said Prowl.

"What is it supposed to be?" asked Ironhide.

"It's the star pattern from the energon farm I came online at."

"Why'd you paint it on the walls?" asked Wasp.

"Sometimes, I miss the farm. This reminds me of it so I don't miss it as much," explained Bulkhead. "Since I can't really go there whenever I want…"

That really hit home. Then Wreck-gar suddenly collapsed. Prowl quickly examined him. "…He's recharging."

"You mean he actually managed to hypnotize himself?" asked Wasp.

"The patterns don't even look like a hypnotist swirl," muttered Flareup.

Outside:

Silverbolt and Kup had rejoined the rest of the Dino clan. Kup was trying to get the hang of it. "That looks like a proton blaster."

"Huh?" asked Slag.

"It sort of looks like the cannon on Megatron's arm, only smaller," explained Kup. He was still getting the hang of it.

"Oh…"

"Sludge sees kitty."

"Where?'

"There."

"Looks more like bunny bot…" muttered Snarl.

Kup had to admit. This wasn't such a bad planet to spend your life on. At least Optimus had found some sort of happiness here.

He hoped Optimus wouldn't lose that too.

_And now Butterflies presents The Afterward._

"Sorry about the technical difficulties last chapter," said KHGiggle. "Turns out the camera can be destabilized by temporal energy. We had to go get another one. Since it's still pretty awkward, let's just get this session started."

"Just in case you think you read something wrong, Optimus Prime is Silverbolt," said Vector Prime as he took over. "An anonymous reviewer that went by 'Guest' guessed correctly, but no one else had indicated that they suspected this"

"I dropped some hints about Silverbolt's identity if you caught them," said KHGiggle. "Like the stuff Kup mentioned. Plus there's the whole Blackarachnia/Silverbolt dynamic…"

"Elita-1 will be appearing in this story," added Vector. "She will not use the alias of Blackarachnia."

"Yeah, Optimus was left behind instead of her. That's actually the seed that started this story," explained KHGiggle. "I wanted to read a story like that, but I couldn't find any that I liked so I decided to write one of my own."

"It snowballed from there unfortunately," muttered Vector.

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine Optimus acting like Blackarachnia…Partly because he's Optimus and partly because he doesn't have her scientific background," explained KHGiggle. "Plus I had to come up with a different reason for the transformation. Since Wasp became Waspinator due to transwarp energy and a wasp…Which reminds me of 'The Fly'…"

"There are some similarities."

"So I decided to say he had an accident with transwarp technology in the ship," finished KHGiggle. "And I also decided to use that to put him somewhere else since I didn't think he'd wanna hitch a ride with Megatron. Then I thought. 'Oh, he could just end up somewhere in North America, and that would explain how he got to Detroit when the others get there'. Then I thought. 'There would only be Native Americans at that point. Hey! Silverbolt always struck me as having a Native American theme!'"

"I stepped in to redirect the teleportation and make sure the mutation didn't kill him," interrupted Vector. "It was also when I realized someone had decided to try and make unapproved changes to the timeline." He gave KHGiggle a look.

KHGiggle laughed nervously. "Yeah, still sorry about that. Making progress though."

"We still have a long way to go."

_This has been The Afterword._


	9. Short Circuit

"Get back here with my datapad!" shouted Ironhide.

Wasp snickered. "Gotta catch me first!"

"Come on! I do not want to watch that scrap Flareup's got on right now!" said Ironhide. "She's watching stuff on dead humans again!"

Wasp made a disgusted noise at Flareup's idea of recreation. "I dunno; your taste in documents is always so funny!"

What would have been a standard teasing session was interrupted as Wasp ran into the intersection of a hallway at the same moment Wheeljack and Wreck-gar turned the corner.

Ironhide winced at the resulting crash. "You okay?"

"That was fun!" said Wreck-gar, smile still on his face.

"Ow…" muttered Wasp. "I think my stingers went off."

"I think your stingers went off too," agreed Wheeljack as he pushed himself up. "What're you running around for anyway?"

"Just teasing Ironhide with his…" Wasp trailed off as he held up the shattered datapad. "Oops."

Ironhide immediately put Wasp into a headlock. "Dammit Wasp! You know I only have 4 of those!"

"I didn't know you could give neck hugs!" commented Wreck-gar.

"Yeah, but you're only allowed to do it with really close friends," joked Wheeljack. "You probably shouldn't do that unless you ask first."

"Okay!"

"And if the datapad's important, I should be able to repair it enough that you can have the data retrieved when you get back to Cybertron," continued Wheeljack as he started gathering up the pieces of the datapad. "It's actually pretty simple as far as datapads go. Won't take more than a solar cycle." Wheeljack's digits suddenly twitched. He froze up.

"How come you're not moving Mr. Boom?" asked Wheeljack.

Wheeljack snorted. "Mr. Boom? That's the best you can come up with?"

Wreck-gar smiled and shook his head. "Nope!"

Wheeljack finished gathering up the pieces. "You'll have to share your amusing nicknames with me another time." He stood. "I'm gonna run to my lab and stop by medical before I get started on fixing up your datapad."

Ironhide was too busy giving Wasp a noogie to listen to Wheeljack.

Wheeljack dropped the pieces of datapad onto his workbench before running to the medical bay.

Red Alert looked up when Wheeljack came in. "Did you blow something up again?"

"Not this time, which is pretty unusual, I have to admit. I just need to have a part replaced," explained Wheeljack.

Red Alert nodded. "What part do you need replaced?"

"Secondary processors."

Red Alert blinked. "Secondary processors?"

"Yeah."

"You have secondary processors? As in more than one?"

Wheeljack nodded. "Yeah, I think they're about to wear out."

"What sort of secondary processors?"

"Nothing major. I just need them to help with my servo coordination," explained Wheeljack. "I think I still have a few solar cycles from what I've seen, but I should probably get them replaced now. Is Ratchet in?"

"He's out at the island doing some repairs on your ship with Swoop. Do you want me to call him?" asked Red Alert.

Wheeljack thought for a moment. He rotated his arms and flexed his digits a bit. "No, like I said they still have a few solar cycles in them. I'll wait until he gets back."

"I could probably replace the secondary processors," commented Red Alert.

"You probably could, but it's a really delicate operation, and Ratchet will freak out if he's not at least present to make sure it's done correctly," explained Wheeljack. "Besides, he's got the replacements under lock and key."

"All right. But if that's the case, I'll have to take you off of active duty until Ratchet can perform the operation," said Red Alert.

Wheeljack nodded. "Understood. I'll just drive around and get some fresh air until he gets back."

Red Alert nodded. "I will alert Ratchet to your situation once he returns."

Wheeljack nodded and headed out. "If Ironhide asks about me, tell him something came up."

Red Alert raised an optic ridge. Why would Ironhide ever ask about Wheeljack?

Once outside, Wheeljack transformed and started driving along the roads until he got into the city proper. He didn't actually have a set destination in mind. He was just gonna drive around until Ratchet got back to base. Maybe think about why the secondary processors were starting to fail. They should have had at least a couple of stellar cycles left.

Eventually, Wheeljack started to head back towards the base. Ratchet should be back soon. Best not to keep him waiting.

Then something hit him in his blind spot and sent him spinning out of control. Wheeljack was barely able to regain control of his bearings before he felt something tearing through his systems. Warnings went off all across his systems before he lost consciousness.

A short while later, Ratchet and Swoop returned to base. "Welcome back sir," greeted Red Alert. "Wheeljack was asking after you."

"What about?"

"He said he needed to have his secondary processors replaced."

Ratchet blinked. "That time already? Last time I examined him they still had at least a stellar cycle left in 'em."

"I guess something is speeding up the deterioration," commented Red Alert. "Maybe it's the stress of the situation. He's not trained for continuous combat."

"That's a possibility," agreed Ratchet. _"Wheeljack, you-"_ Ratchet shut down his com link as feedback screeched through it. He cautiously activated it again. _"Wheeljack?"_ Feedback again. "Something's wrong with Wheeljack's com link."

Red Alert quickly went to the computer. "Tracking…The computers aren't picking up his signal at all."

That was not good. Either Wheeljack's signal was being blocked or he was… "Can you track where his signal last was?"

"Yes. I also recommend having the others search for him. He might be suffering from some kind of malfunction."

Ratchet sighed. "I doubt we're going to be that lucky."

Wheeljack:

Wheeljack's started to boot back up. His whole body hurt.

"You can only control one at a time?"

"Looks like it. Maybe with some practice I could control more than one for more than a few seconds, but we'll have to stick with what we've got for now."

"If that's the case, we only need one alive."

That woke Wheeljack up. He quickly onlined his optics and looked around. To his immense relief, there were no Decepticons. There was a fancy blue car, but it was just sitting there. There was some human equipment and technology against the walls, but nothing that seemed immediately dangerous to him.

And then there were the two humans. One was a human male with brown hair who looked pretty normal besides the eye patch covering his right eye. The other was a redheaded human female with strips of metal randomly going over her visible body parts.

He'd gotten kidnapped by humans? Yeah, there'd been some concern about this happening, but still…Wheeljack looked around for other humans, but it was only those two.

"It's awake," noted the woman. She walked over to Wheeljack and studied him. "We need to figure out which would be better to use to lure the others in."

"I'm not sure they know about the blue one," said the man. "They might consider him a hostile entity."

Wait. The blue car was Cybertronian? Wheeljack studied it for another moment. He didn't recognize the model, but after doing a scan, he did find a spark.

"Then I'll hack the other one," said the woman.

Wheeljack recoiled. "Hack me?!" He felt a spasm go through his body. "Do you know what the human equivalent of being hacked is?!"

"I don't care." The woman fired a bolt of electricity, scrambling Wheeljack's systems again.

Clearly, it was going to be a long day.

Elsewhere:

"It looks like someone forced him off the road here," noted Flareup. "Whoever it was was going pretty fast."

"Was it a Decepticon?" asked Rodimus.

Flareup shrugged. "I can't tell just by looking at this. I know there's at least one Decepticon with a ground bound alt mode, so it's possible."

"_Red Alert? You picking up anything?"_ commed Rodimus.

"_No Decepticon signals. Still nothing from Wheeljack."_

"_How badly is Ratchet freaking out?"_ asked Flareup.

"_I fail to see what that has to do with the situation."_

"_You've never seen Ratchet when he's angry,"_ argued Flareup.

Back in the base, Red Alert rolled her optics. _"I'll keep that in mind."_

Wheeljack:

Wheeljack regained consciousness and immediately checked his chronometer. Oh good, he wasn't unconscious for too long. He played dead for a moment before something punched him in the head. "You're not fooling me. I know you're up and running!"

Wheeljack onlined his optics again. The woman was glaring at him and was holding a device that Wheeljack suspected was a signal emitter. "You finished hacking already? Gotta admit. That's pretty impressive."

The woman snarled. "Don't even try. I'm not falling for your tricks."

"Tricks?" Wheeljack had been telling the truth. Even if it wasn't impossible, it would be extremely difficult for a human to hack a Cybertronian. "What do you mean?"

She just gave him a disgusted look and walked over to the car. It looked like she'd been loading it with more of the signal emitters. "Do you want me to come with you?" asked the man.

The woman thought for a moment. "No, better not risk leaving it here alone. Don't know why you want to leave it functioning."

"The others will be more cautious if their friend is in danger, and we don't know enough about how they communicate to know if they'll be able to tell when it's destroyed," explained the man.

They wouldn't be able to tell until they saw Wheeljack, but he decided not to say anything.

"All right. I'll be back as soon as I can," said the woman.

The man nodded. "Right. Be careful. We don't want to be found out before we split them up."

The woman's gaze softened. "Of course." She kissed him before climbing into the car.

Odd. Were these two a couple?

As soon as the woman drove out, the man sat down against a wall and closed his eyes. Wheeljack tried to transform, but found something was restraining him. "Don't bother. We made sure you wouldn't be able to change."

"Not a bad move," admitted Wheeljack. Most bots had to be in their robot modes to use their mods. He tried to move forward, but it looked like the two humans had done something that prevented his axle from moving. "So what's your story?"

"It's none of your business."

"Really? You didn't kidnap me just for kicks. I'd say that makes it my business indirectly at the very least," reasoned Wheeljack. "Considering the amount of restraints, I'm thinking I'm a hostage for some sort of negotiation."

"Shut up!" snapped the man. "Damn robot," he muttered just loud enough for Wheeljack to hear.

Wheeljack was gonna have to figure this out on his own. They didn't want information from him. It looked like they were trying to lure the others somewhere using his signal. It was probably a trap. What did they want with the Autobots though?

Outside:

"Do you think we should be looking for an explosion?" asked Bulkhead. "That's usually how we find him."

"I don't think Wheeljack would do something like that in the city," said Bumblebee. "Can you imagine what Ratchet would do to him?"

Bulkhead shuddered. "Good point. So how do we find him?"

"I dunno," admitted Bumblebee. "Maybe we could check the junkyard or hardware stores."

Elsewhere:

"I don't have any experience with abductions," admitted Hot Shot. "What do you usually do in those sorts of situations?"

"Try to track the kidnappers to their base of operations," said Brawn. "If you get a ransom note, try to track that while simultaneously working with the kidnappers to ensure the hostage's survival."

"How do you do that?" asked Hot Shot.

"By being sneaky," said Brawn. "Can't say I have a lot of experience with the espionage part of the process."

Hot Shot nodded. Brawn tended to tackle problems head on.

Elsewhere:

"Why are we helping?" asked Sari.

"Because if Wheeljack got abducted by Cons again, we'll need all hands to get him back alive," explained Kup. He scanned a building that looked like a good hiding place but got nothing. "And if humans have something to do with this, you two will know more about what to expect than the rest of us."

Sari raised an eyebrow. "Did I hear right? You actually think humans are dangerous?"

"I'm not this old 'cause I keep my head up my aft," snapped Kup. "Any species can take down a Cybertronian if they're intelligent enough and have the correct equipment and plan. And there's a lot of pissed off humans after the mess you made of this city. I'd be surprised if no attempts were made to kill us."

Elsewhere:

Ironhide and Wasp didn't really have any investigative skills so they were just zipping around in traffic while looking for anything that might be out of place. _"So what do you think happened?"_ asked Wasp.

"_Beats me. I can't think of any reason anyone would want him,"_ said Ironhide. _"I mean, I know he's smart, but he keeps blowing stuff up."_

"_Do you think your datapad's gonna blow up?"_

"_Dunno. Guess it doesn't matter. It was already broken,"_ said Ironhide in an accusing tone.

"_I'll get you a new one. It's not that big a deal."_

"_Except you can't buy datapads here…"_

Elsewhere:

Prowl peered through the binoculars, slowly turning on the top of the building he'd chosen. He saw nothing that struck him as out of the ordinary except people staring up towards the sky.

Prowl looked up just to be on the safe side. The only thing out of place was the wolf flying above him. There were no jets, planes, or anything else that could be a Decepticon. Prowl was starting to understand what Silverbolt meant when he said he'd cause a spectacle. Even he couldn't help but be distracted by the beast flying overhead. Prowl turned his binoculars on Silverbolt.

Silverbolt was turning his head. He didn't act like anything had caught his eye.

Prowl turned his attention back to the ground, doing one more sweep before moving to the next roof.

Wheeljack:

A spasm went through Wheeljack's body. They were starting to get worse. He had to say, he never realized how uncomfortable it was in vehicle mode. Better try to distract himself.

The only thing that really stood out was his captor, who was still leaning against a wall with his visible eye closed. "So, are you two together? You make a cute couple."

The man didn't visibly react.

Wheeljack sighed. This was surprisingly boring. It was better than most alternatives, but still…Wheeljack started running scans on all the equipment. It was pretty much what he expected. Maybe one or two things that Wheeljack didn't expect because they were less efficient than what would normally be used.

The machinery was scanned in practically no time. Wheeljack decided to try out his latest organic scanner on his captor.

Wait. That can't be right. Wheeljack ran the scan again. He studied the patch covering the man's eye. "You're not just wearing that because of an eye injury, are you?"

The man straightened and glared at Wheeljack.

"Look, I know that power from the Allspark seems like it can solve all sorts of problems. Lots of bots think that way too. But it can have all sorts of devastating consequences. Especially if an organic life form tries to use it. Records show that it can have absolutely devastating consequences if it's misused."

"I don't believe you."

"I'm a scientist. I know what I'm talking about. There's a reason we keep it inside a special case. If we didn't, it would eventually start to affect the machinery we use." Wheeljack spasmed again. "It might not be affecting you now since it's a smaller piece, but your health is eventually going to suffer if it remains in your body."

"That's my choice," growled the man. "And I'm willing to give up my life."

"But what about your quality of life?" continued Wheeljack. "You could end up with seizures, missing body parts, amnesia, paralysis-"

The man suddenly laughed. "Oh, you have no idea what you've already done."

Wheeljack fell silent. What had he done to them? No…What had the Autobots done to them? Or the Decepticons? The only thing that immediately came to mind was the Battle a few months ago. Lots of humans had been hurt. Maybe this man had been one of them?

Or maybe the woman had been hurt. She'd been wearing something metallic all over her body. Wheeljack hadn't really thought about what the purpose of it was. If an injury had been bad enough…

Anger and revenge were very powerful motivators.

Detroit:

"_I'm picking up Wheeljack's signal all of a sudden,"_ commed Red Alert. _"Sending the coordinates now. Ironhide and Wasp are closest."_

"_You two go check it out,"_ instructed Rodimus. _"Do not engage any enemies present. Just scope out the situation and determine if Wheeljack is injured."_

"_Got it."_ The two turned around and started heading for the nearby signal. It was coming from a parking garage. The two slowly drove in and started looking for Wheeljack or any other cars that stuck out.

Then a human came out of nowhere and slammed into Ironhide. Normally not a big deal, but a charge of electricity surged through his systems, forcing them to shut down to avoid debilitating damage. She threw her arm out towards Wasp, sending another bolt of electricity towards him.

Wasp wasn't knocked out like Ironhide since his body was designed to withstand high electrical voltage and current, a standard feature in bots that used electricity regularly. Wasp immediately reversed. _"We're being attacked by a human!"_

"_A human?"_

Wasp dodged another electrical bolt. _"Yes! She already took out Ironhide!"_

"_We will be there momentarily,"_ commed Prowl.

"_Yeah, well hurry up!"_

The woman seemed rather annoyed by the fact that Wasp was managing to avoid her attacks and sent an especially wide range and powerful attack that finally managed to stun Wasp. She opened the door of the blue car. She immediately sent quite a bit of electricity through its systems. "Get them back to base!"

As she pulled out of the parking space and headed for the exit, Ironhide followed her. Wasp seemed to start moving too before suddenly reversing and transforming. "The Pit was that?!" It felt like something had been pushing him forward.

Actually, it still felt like something was trying to push him, only it was in his head, trying to suppress his thoughts. Wasp transformed and shook his head and grabbed it. Then it was just gone. Wasp blinked and looked around in confusion.

Where were Ironhide and the human? They'd been there a moment ago.

At that point, Prowl rolled up and transformed. "They're gone?"

"Y-yeah."

Prowl waved for Silverbolt to land. "What happened?"

Wasp activated his com link so the others could listen. "The human hit Ironhide with an electrical blast. Then she drove off and he followed her. And…it felt like something was in my head trying to make me follow. It was…scary."

"_Was the blast enough to knock him out?"_ asked Rodimus.

"_Can't say for sure,"_ admitted Red Alert. _"It would knock him for a loop though."_

"_That might've been enough to render him susceptible to what was trying to make Wasp follow,"_ reasoned Rodimus. _"What of Wheeljack's signal?"_

"Oh, yeah, that. We didn't see Wheeljack in there."

"What shall we do?" questioned Silverbolt. He couldn't hear the conversation, and wanted to know if there was any way he could help. Prowl thoughtfully relayed the question.

"_We should be able to track Ironhide's signal. Everyone try to intercept them. Wasp and Prowl, see if you can find the source of Wheeljack's signal."_

"_Hold on,"_ interrupted Red Alert. _"Now Wheeljack's signal is somewhere else entirely."_

"_Who's closest?"_

"_Brawn and Hot Shot."_

"_Okay, you two go check it out. The rest of you continue to try to intercept Ironhide and the human," _instructed Rodimus.

"Perhaps I should stay here," said Silverbolt. "I do not have the equipment to assist in a mass coordinated effort."

"That should be fine," said Prowl. "Maybe you can pick up the scent of the woman that was here."

Wheeljack:

"Will you stop that?!" shouted the man.

Wheeljack was shaking badly. "Sorry, can't help it. I have old processor damage that makes me shake real bad when I try to move unless I have a secondary processor to help correct the movements. I have to admit that it's never been this bad before, but then again I've never been in my vehicle mode for so long when my secondary processors are blown." Actually kind of interesting. Why was being in vehicle mode affecting him in such a way?

Maybe it was the restraints. They were rubbing him in the most uncomfortable places.

That was when the woman returned with the unknown blue Cybertronian and Ironhide. The woman jumped out. "Lost one."

"I did say controlling two would be iffy," the man reminded her. "And it's been especially hard to concentrate with…that!" He gestured violently towards Wheeljack.

The woman frowned as she studied Wheeljack. "What are you doing?"

"I tend to spasm if my secondary processors aren't working," explained Wheeljack. "I guess in vehicle mode, it's bad enough that I can't stop spasming."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, it's been like that since I suffered irreparable processor damage. Messed up my motor functions something awful."

The woman muttered under her breath as she restrained Ironhide. Then she walked over to try and examine Wheeljack. This proved to be impossible with the shaking. Getting frustrated. She took off the restraints. "Transform, and don't try anything funny."

Wheeljack did so, making sure to stay sitting. "That feels much better!"

She promptly hit him with an electrical burst that was strong enough to knock him out. Amazingly, he was still twitching. "You have got to be kidding."

"At least it's not as noisy," muttered the man. "And maybe he'll stop talking now."

"I've activated another beacon. I'll see if anyone's taken the bait," said the woman as she climbed into the car. "It didn't look like he had any weapons systems when I first examined him, but you should keep your distance just in case."

The man nodded. The woman nodded and headed out with the Blue Cybertronian again. The man went back to leaning against the wall.

Detroit:

"We're probably going to get attacked," said Brawn, eyeing the lakeside warehouse.

"Right, uh, what do we do with a human?" asked Hot Shot. "I don't want to burn her."

Brawn frowned. "Not sure. Didn't actually think too much about that."

The two walked into the warehouse. There wasn't much of anything in there. They carefully made their way to the source of the signal, making sure to cover each other's' back. Brawn ripped open a metal container. "Found it." He pulled out a cylindrical device. "Definitely not Wheeljack."

"_We found the device emitting the false signal,"_ commed Hot Shot. _"What do we do with it?"_

"_Bring it back here,"_ instructed Ratchet. _"Prowl, Silverbolt, and Wasp already brought the one they found. I'm trying to track the signal that's activating them to its source."_

"_One of you stay there in case the perpetrator hasn't arrived yet,"_ said Rodimus.

"_Captain Fanzone has a lead on where they might be,"_ Flareup suddenly said.

"_What?"_

"_Yeah, I called him to ask if anyone noticed a crash that involved a DeLorean. And they did. The other car was a very unique blue car. The human enforcers have managed to narrow down where they might be keeping Wheeljack and Ironhide."_

"_Okay, that works too,"_ admitted Rodimus.

Wheeljack:

Wheeljack was woken up by Ironhide cursing. Ironhide must be really angry. He'd fallen back into Cybertronix. Wheeljack took a moment to try and remember the situation.

Oh right. Kidnapped again.

Wheeljack cracked open an optic. He could just see Ironhide. Ironhide had been restrained as well, and obviously wasn't happy about his situation. Presumably, the man was still somewhere, doing whatever it was he did. Wheeljack couldn't tell if the woman and the blue Cybertronian were present.

Wheeljack looked around some more before trying to use his com to contact Ironhide silently. It didn't work, which was too bad since Wheeljack needed to pretend he was still offline.

Wheeljack eyed Ironhide. He doubted he could get all the restraints off with his servos the way they were. He ought to be able to get the boot off, but he'd probably hurt Ironhide. Being free and injured was preferable to being restrained in Wheeljack's opinion though. It wouldn't be too hard for Ratchet to fix.

The real difficult part would be causing a distraction that would last long enough for Wheeljack to get the boot off. It would take a few moments. What sort of distraction would suffice?

Well, there was a lot of important looking electronic equipment. A malfunction? He couldn't do anything like that in his condition. Maybe he could fake a malfunction? He still had some grenades in his subspace. Could he access it though?

It took a few minutes, but he did manage to squeeze his digits into it. Finding the appropriate grenades was surprisingly more difficult for some reason. Then Wheeljack rolled the smoke grenade and flash grenade until the primers were pressed against the floor and pushed down.

At that point, Wheeljack threw all caution to the wind. He swiped wildly at the grenades and managed to roll them towards the consoles.

The grenades detonated. They were close enough to the consoles that the man shot up and ran over to check on them. Wheeljack sort of wiggled over to Ironhide, who'd shut up and seemed to be watching him. It was always hard to tell when a bot was in vehicle mode. Wheeljack formed a small power saw from one of his digits. Not the best tool, but he couldn't light his welder.

The noise from the saw was very loud. Wheeljack had only cut through a couple of inches when he heard the man shouting. And then there was the energon leaking out of Ironhide. Wheeljack muttered a quick apology as he tried to cut in a straight line.

Something suddenly…Wheeljack wasn't sure how to describe it. It was like someone was trying to get on top of him while in his body. It brought up memories that had Wheeljack reflexively pushing it away just long enough to finish cutting through the boot. "Get out of here!"

For once, Ironhide decided to listen to Wheeljack and peeled out of there. Then Wheeljack's felt his consciousness become completely overshadowed.

At that point, some old programs started up and shut him down.

Ironhide meanwhile was trying to contact one of the other Autobots out there, but his internal communicators weren't working so instead he was searching for another Autobot and unintentionally causing some near accidents.

He wasn't able to avoid crashing into Bulkhead. "Gah!"

"Ironhide? Is that you?" Bulkhead transformed. "You okay?"

Bumblebee transformed and poked at the restraints. "What're these for?"

"Just cut them off so I can transform!"

"Sure, just-Oh wait. You're injured," noted Bumblebee. "I should probably seal that first."

"That's not important! Just get these slagging restraints off!"

"Okay, okay…" Bulkhead moved Ironhide off the road. Bumblebee started the using his stingers to cut through the restraints.

Bulkhead activated his com link. _"Hey guys, Ironhide just drove into me."_

"_Are you two okay?"_ asked Red Alert.

"_I'm okay. Ironhide's got an injury, but it didn't look bad."_

"_Why didn't he contact us?" _asked Kup.

"_Oh, good question!"_ "Hey Ironhide, how come you didn't call anyone?"

"They disabled my %&*% communicator!"

"_He says they disabled his communicator,"_ relayed Bulkhead.

"_That must be why Wheeljack hasn't contacted us,"_ realized Ratchet.

"_See if Ironhide can lead you to the location he was being held,"_ instructed Rodimus. _"We need to rescue Wheeljack before he's seriously damaged."_

"_Hold on. One of these people can control bots. It might not be a good idea to just go in there, guns blazing,"_ Kup reminded him.

"_Just call the police. The criminals are human after all,"_ said Flareup.

"…_That could actually work."_

Warehouse:

"So, do we wait for the police or continue on?" asked Hot Shot.

"We wait until the human shows up," said Brawn. "She's already throwing around electricity so she's probably not the one doing the mind control slag."

"I hope that Wheeljack's okay," muttered Hot Shot.

"As long as he's functioning, Ratchet should be able to repair him," said Brawn.

They fell silent for a few moments. Then they heard a car pull up outside. The two tensed up. A slight figure ran in and started looking around. There was a metal pattern visible on her skin. She definitely wasn't a cop.

Hot Shot jumped out and shot fire at her. She dodged and retaliated with an electrical bolt. That was when Brawn ran out from behind and slammed into her. She let out a surprised shout before quickly turning and retaliating. Brawn dodged the attack and threw a plank that he'd snatched from the ground. She frantically dodged it, then had to frantically dodge another attack from Hot Shot's flamethrower. Brawn took advantage of the distraction to punch her.

It was a pretty light punch by Brawn's standards, but it still sent her flying outside. She rolled over and hacked as she tried to push herself up. Brawn and Hot Shot followed her out to see if she was done yet…and to make sure Brawn hadn't damaged her too much.

She was suddenly surrounded by electrical sparks and floated up. She started shooting more electrical bolts at them. The two fell into a dodging pattern.

Then they heard sirens. A moment later, several police cars came careening towards them before several officers jumped out, guns drawn. "Hands in the air!"

"_Should we do that too?"_ asked Hot Shot.

"_Not until she does."_

The woman…looked furious. It looked like the officers were all pointing their guns at her. "You're helping them?!" She started shooting bolts at the police instead.

Hot Shot and Brawn immediately started trying to distract her. They could take a lot of damage. Humans could not. _"What now?!"_

"_I'm thinking!"_

Wheeljack:

Wheeljack came back online. He hoped that was the last time he got knocked out this solar cycle. Not that likely, but he could hope.

Wheeljack carefully looked around until he got a look at the human male, who seemed to be doing some sort of repairs to the consoles Wheeljack had rolled the grenades towards. Huh, looks like the grenades had managed to do some damage.

Wheeljack started going over this new information. The only reason for the program that had knocked him out to have activated would be if someone was trying to control him. That explained some of the things the two were talking about, along with how they were working with a Cybertronian when they had so little regard for the race.

What was Wheeljack supposed to do now? He'd love to escape, but right now his motor control was so bad that he wouldn't be able to get out of here on his own even if no one was present and the door was wide open. He was just going to have to hope Ironhide could lead the others here.

Then Wheeljack heard some breaking glass. He had just enough time to identify the projectiles as canisters before they started spewing a smoke.

Wheeljack quickly analyzed the chemical composition of the gas. Syn-propanethial-S-oxide. Perfectly harmless to Cybertronians. Humans…Wheeljack noted that his captor was wheezing and coughing and tearing up. It had a nasty effect on humans apparently.

While the man was distracted, a pounding sound came from the side. Then several police officers wearing gas masks charged in and tackled the man, smacking his head on the ground.

Well, at least Wheeljack wasn't the one knocked out this time.

One of the police officers opened the garage door. Ratchet came wailing in before transforming. "Are you okay?"

"I feel as though I should change my name to Princess Peach."

Ratchet blinked. "You…What?"

"I got hit by an electrical burst that fried my secondary processors and feel kind of dizzy from when the male tried to control me and that defense program activated," said Wheeljack. "But other than that, I feel fine."

"I'll contact Bulkhead so we can transport you," said Ratchet.

"Before you knock me out for surgery, can I say a few things?" asked Wheeljack.

"Sure."

"Okay, the male has an Allspark shard embedded in his eye, which is probably connected to how he's controlling us. The female has some kind of metal device over most of her body that has something to do with her ability to control electricity. Neither of them consider us alive and sentient. I suspect they suffered some kind of loss during that huge battle we had with the Decepticons. The blue car is a Cybertronian, but I couldn't tell if it was an Autobot or a Decepticon or even if it's a new spark or a recent arrival. Pretty sure the male was controlling it the whole time though so I don't think it was a co-conspirator."

"Right. I'll let the officers know that we need to get that shard," said Ratchet as he finished looking Wheeljack over. It didn't look like he had any severe injuries. "I'm gonna put you under."

"Sure, wake me up when I can move again."

Docks:

"The tear gas isn't working!"

"Actually, I think she's just that crazy."

"I'm not crazy!" shouted the woman. "You're the ones catering to a bunch of lifeless robots just because they put up a convincing front!"

"Hey! We're not lifeless!" retorted Hot Shot. "That's like saying you're not sentient just because you're organic!"

The woman snarled and drew back her hand. But before she could fire what was sure to be a huge attack, the blue car suddenly started up on its own and charged her. The woman was caught off guard enough that it rammed into her. The car kept going until it drove off the docks and both fell into the water.

Hot Shot and Brawn jumped in after them. The blue car was already gone, but the woman was still there, completely unconscious. Hot Shot grabbed her and returned to the surface while Brawn started searching for the blue car. Hot Shot broke the surface and examined the woman as he climbed out of the lake. "She's not breathing!"

Fortunately, a requirement of the police department is to know CPR. One of the officers present was able to get her breathing again and then handed her over to an ambulance. _"One of the abductors has been arrested."_

"_The other one was picked up as well,"_ said Rodimus._ "Ratchet and Bulkhead are transporting Wheeljack back to base. Are either of you injured?"_

"_No, we managed to dodge her attacks. Although the blue car she was driving moved around on its own."_

"_Yeah, Wheeljack said a scan he performed said the car had a spark."_

Hot Shot frowned and looked into the lake in concern. _"Do you think it was a Decepticon?"_

"_It's unlikely. I don't think Decepticons would be willing to work side by side with humans. Besides, one of the humans had the ability to take control of us. Whoever that care was probably didn't have a choice."_

"_That would explain why it suddenly attacked the female,"_ commented Hot Shot. _"Anyway, I'm gonna help Brawn look for the unknown Cybertronian. We'll call you if we find anything."_

"_All right."_

The next day:

"There, you are," said Wheeljack. "I finally got around to repairing your datapad."

Ironhide blinked at the proffered datapad. He cautiously took it and started going through all the features. "Huh, this is actually working…really great."

Wheeljack nodded. "Yeah, I have plenty of experience with repairing datapads."

"…It's not gonna explode later, is it?" asked Ironhide.

"No, I know I'm infamous for my accidents, but that's because I'm working with unstable chemicals or get a heat source too close to something flammable" explained Wheeljack. "Besides, my finished products don't explode unless they're supposed to."

"Right…" Ironhide looked between the datapad and Wheeljack. "Why were you…shaking so much?"

"I wondered if you were gonna ask about that," admitted Wheeljack. "I have some old processor damage from…an incident. Fortunately, the parts that were responsible for my personality and intelligence were unharmed, but the parts responsible for motor control were too badly damaged to repair. That's why I had secondary processors installed. They handle the burden my processor no longer can. It's just that they wear out eventually, and it was about time to have them replaced. I would've had another few solar cycles if it hadn't been for the electrical surges I was attacked with."

Ironhide looked down. "Oh…" Permanent injuries were pretty rare in Cybertronians since they could usually just make new parts. There were a few exceptions, like processors, but most bots went out of their way to avoid the kind of situation that could lead to that sort of injury. "That must've been some explosion."

That got Ironhide a very odd look from Wheeljack. "Ironhide, the explosions didn't cause the injury. The injury caused the explosions."

Ironhide's optics widened. "Oh." Now he felt like an aft. "That's gotta suck…"

Wheeljack nodded. "Yeah, but I'm always making improvements. I have high hopes for this batch of processors…but just in case, don't go near my lab for the next couple of solar cycles, okay?"

"Right…"

"Well, back to work! Enjoy your datapad."

Wheeljack walked off humming. Ironhide watched after him with a disturbed look on his face.

How does a guy talk so casually about being permanently damaged?

_And now Butterflies presents The Afterword._

"Woo hoo! I finally got a job!" said KHGiggle. "This is the best day of my life!"

"Will that affect your writing schedule?" asked Vector.

KHGiggle shrugged. "No idea. I wrote the first draft of the first season and part of the second while I was doing training that was sort of like full time work. When I have ideas it flows, and when I don't, it takes a while to get past the block. Maybe having something to do will help me get past the blocks."

"I suppose one can only hope…"

"So, enough about that. Let's get down to business," said KHGiggle. "I have no idea if Wheeljack's condition has a human equivalent," admitted KHGiggle. "I do think it's possible for a Transformer to become disabled if they are injured enough though. I think it would explain a couple of things for a few bots."

"The woman with the electrical powers is not an OC," continued Vector. "But her name will not be revealed until later."

"The guy was completely made up on the other hand," continued Chris. "And if you're wondering why we never mention his name, it's because none of the Autobots ever find out their names during the course of the chapter, although it wasn't for lack of trying on Wheeljack's part."

"And if Ratchet is immune to his EMP modification, it would make sense for Bumblebee and Wasp to have protection from their own natural modifications to an extent," said Vector. "It's not perfect, but they can handle more electrical energy than their compatriots."

"On a side note, I recently discovered that the first season of Butterflies has over 1,000 views," said KHGiggle. "I don't know how good that is compared to every other story on Fanfiction, but it's still awesome!"

"How many does the second season have?"

"Uh, like 680? Still don't know how good that is, but I'm happy!"

_This has been The Afterword._


	10. Forest

Alarms started going off in the Autobot base. Red Alert immediately went to the main computer and started checking on the various data being picked up. Her optics widened when she realized what it was being detected. "This is Red Alert to all units. The base's sensors are picking up a high level of Allspark radiation. If we're picking it up, there's a good chance that the Decepticons are as well."

That got everyone's attention.

"_Where is it?"_ asked Rodimus.

Red Alert took a few moments to study the projected coordinates. She was fairly certain these coordinates were in the forest. Then the signal disappeared and reappeared in a different location. "Okay, the coordinates just changed completely." Red Alert studied the coordinates. "It looks like it's still in the forest."

"_We'll get right on it."_

Sari had figured this out as well. "I sense a shard that's moving around a lot…over there," said Sari, pointing towards the forest.

"That's not good," said Silverbolt.

"Why?" asked Flareup.

"You probably were not in there long enough to have anything happen, but it is…a gateway of sorts," explained Silverbolt. "There's a reason the city hasn't encroached on it. It's full of spirits and ghosts."

Flareup raised an optic ridge. "What's the difference between a ghost and a spirit?"

"Ghosts are souls that previously had bodies and are unable to pass on. They often are confused or violent. Spirits are souls that no longer need a body."

"…How's that work?"

Decepticon base:

"An Allspark shard has been detected," announced Megatron. "I will be retrieving it myself."

"Allow me to assist, my lord," requested Lugnut.

Megatron eyed Lugnut. "Your build is not well suited to such an environment." Megatron didn't care too much about the trees…but this area was fairly close to the Autobot base, and he wanted to stay incognito. "Oil Slick, you will accompany me."

"Of course."

Megatron took a moment to eye Spittor. "He was designed for the purpose of exploring these sorts of environments, correct?"

"Yeah, but it made him stupid," said Strika. "Not sure why."

"He was always stupid," said Cyclonus. He was glaring at Spittor, who was opticing the humans again.

"He will accompany us as well, but Oil Slick, you are to keep him in line," instructed Megatron.

Oil Slick nodded. "Of course."

Autobot Search Unit:

"Has the location shifted yet?" asked Red Alert.

"_Nope, not yet,"_ said Wheeljack. _"Oh, Silverbolt says to look out for anything strange and to be back before nightfall. Something about pissed off trees. I'm not sure what he's talking about."_

Red Alert immediately decided to ignore the second part of the message. "It's still in place."

"Shouldn't we ask Silverbolt or Sari for help?" asked Hot Shot. "Since they're experts at this sort of thing."

"You're kidding, right?" asked Wasp.

"It's next to impossible to convince Kup to let his students skip lessons," explained Rodimus. "We don't have time for that. We need to find it before the Decepticons do."

Too bad they didn't realize they were being watched.

"Silly writer! I'm always watching!" The speaker snickered and stealthily followed after the group of Autobots. "Those silly bots shoulda listened to old 'Bolt. They're not gonna know what hit them! This is gonna be great!"

'Old 'Bolt' suddenly felt a chill go up his spine. Now he was really worried. He glanced over at Kup. He was lecturing Slag on why he couldn't just rely on close combat when fighting Decepticons. Silverbolt glanced at Sari. She was rather restless due to picking up the shard signal as well, but she wasn't looking at him either. The only one paying attention to him was Flareup.

"Silverbolt? Are you gonna answer my question?" asked Flareup. "I thought trees couldn't move on their own."

"Can this wait until later?" asked Silverbolt.

"Sure, but why?"

Then Silverbolt suddenly transformed into his beast mode and went racing off into the forest.

Flareup's mouth fell open at the blatant escape that Silverbolt had just pulled off. What was she supposed to do?

"Hey, where'd Silverbolt go?" asked Bumblebee.

Kup's head swiveled around at the question and scanned the area. He scowled when he saw one of his trainees was missing. "That's a very good question. Where exactly is he?"

Flareup groaned. This was not good.

The Decepticons did not have a tag along. Oil Slick pushed on one of the trees. "Solid structures. If we need to remove them, it could take some time."

"That will likely be unnecessary," said Megatron. He sidestepped several of the trees. It was a bit difficult to navigate, but it would be a waste of time and way too obvious if he cut down all the trees he came across. Contrary to popular belief, Megatron preferred to be discrete.

Spittor shot out his tentacles and snapped up something that made a distressed sound before being crushed to death and swallowed.

Oil Slick ignored Spittor's antics and checked the radar. "According to this, we're right on top of the Allspark shard."

Megatron glanced down. The signal had been moving so it was unlikely to be underground, and they'd be able to see it if it was on the ground. Megatron looked up. It was difficult to see if the light was from breaks in the foliage or the shard they were looking for. It was probably in a tree. Megatron slammed an arm against several trees.

Along with debris and some surprised woodland critters, a large, black bird went flying off with the glowing shard grasped in its talons. Oil Slick and Spittor chased after it. Megatron was slower to move. He was picking up Autobot signals that were fairly close.

It was always better to nip a problem in the bud.

Back with the Autobots:

"The signal is moving again," said Red Alert.

Rodimus frowned. "Which direction?"

"This way." Red Alert changed directions, but stopped after a moment, a look of surprise on her face.

Rodimus frowned. "Is something wrong?" He stepped around Red Alert to see what had caused her to stop.

Sitting in front of them was a large, mangy, one-eyed coyote with a look on its face that seemed to radiate amusement.

The bots stared at the coyote for a moment before Wasp made a shooing motion with his servo. "Get out of here."

"Well, that's rude. Guests don't tell the host to leave, and you can easily go around me."

The Autobots all stared at the coyote in shock. "Did that organic just talk?" asked Ironhide.

"Oh, I can do more than just talk!" The coyote sashayed over to them. "I can sing and dance too!"

"It's a talking coyote," muttered Hot Shot, his disbelief showing in everything.

The coyote held up a paw and waggled a toe at them in a disturbingly human-like gesture. "Ah, ah, ah, I'm not an 'a'! I'm much too unique for to be an 'a'. I am a 'the'. One of a kind!"

"Okay…" said Rodimus. This was seriously strange. He made a note to ask if this was normal when he got back. "You got a name?"

"I am what you see," said the coyote.

Rodimus made a weird face at the cryptic answer. "You're not with the Decepticons, are you?"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Honestly, what use would they have for a mangy, old beast like me?" asked the coyote in an amused tone.

"Have you seen a small, glowing shard?" interrupted Red Alert. "It's very important that we find it."

"Of course I've seen it," said the coyote. "It's rather hard to miss with all the glowing it's doing."

There was an odd stand off before Brawn got impatient. "Well?"

The coyote tilted its head. "Well, what?"

"Where's the shard?"

"Oh, why didn't you ask before?" Brawn twitched at the false innocence the coyote radiated. "It would be pointless to tell you. Unless you have something shiny you'd be willing to part with?"

"Uh, no." said Rodimus

"Then you're not going to leave with Raven's new shiny," said the coyote matter-of-factly. "He's loathe to part with his shinies. You'll need more shinies if you even want a chance."

"This is completely pointless," muttered Wasp.

The coyote tensed up. "I'm sorry. I think I misheard you. Did you just say that my oh so graciously given words of wisdom are unimportant?"

"Well, they are," insisted Wasp before anyone could shut him up.

The coyote chuckled darkly. "And here I was considering to offer my assistance…But you only see what you will and are deaf to what you find inconvenient. You are less than newly birthed pups who know nothing, and from henceforth I will treat you as such!" And then the coyote disappeared, it just disappeared.

The Autobots stared at the now empty patch of ground.

"What. The Pit. Was that?" asked Ironhide.

"I have no idea," said Rodimus. "But Wasp pissed it off."

"Maybe it was a group hallucination," suggested Red Alert. This was answered by a loud cackle that seemed to come from everywhere.

Brawn said what everyone was thinking. "Nice going you slagging idiot! Now we gotta put up with whatever that coyote has planned!"

Wasp would come to rue this day for the rest of his life.

Back with the Decepticons:

"Great…Just Great…" Oil Slick had not only lost the bird with the Allspark shard, but he'd somehow gotten separated from Spittor. It was mildly embarrassing.

Oil Slick carved a symbol into a tree in an effort to keep from getting lost. He checked the radar. The shard was still moving so the bird should still have it. "Megatron?"

"_Have you retrieved the shard?"_

"Not as of yet. I lost it and Spittor somehow."

"…_You lost both of them?"_

Oil Slick winced at the restrained rage in Megatron's voice. "I know. It's embarrassing. I'm still trying to figure out how that happened."

"_Find them. Immediately."_

"Of course sir." Oil Slick checked the radar again. He would need to head due east if he wanted to intercept the bird's trajectory.

Spittor…was less concerned. He snapped up a random squirrel. He liked this place, lots of tasty food.

The bird with the Allspark shard landed on a branch and watched him with its beady eyes. Spittor tried to grab it with his tentacles. It was somehow able to dodge them. "Stop that," commanded the raven.

Spittor didn't even pause at the sight of a talking bird. He generally didn't care about how sentient a creature was so that wasn't a big deal. Instead he tried to snag the bird again. This attempt failed as well, and all he got was part of the branch the bird had been perched on a moment ago. The raven narrowed its eyes. "I said stop it."

Spittor promptly ignored the bird, which was getting increasingly annoyed. "Okay, you have got to go."

Elsewhere:

Silverbolt sniffed as he followed the scent of the team that had gone to retrieve the shard. So far so good. Nothing strange had happened, and they were all together. This might not be something for him to concern himself over after all.

Then the scent suddenly split into three different directions. Silverbolt groaned. That was not a good idea in this environment.

"Heya 'Bolt!"

Silverbolt tensed and turned to the speaker. "Coyote."

The coyote from earlier grinned. "Long time no see! And you're even talking again!"

Silverbolt nodded. "Did you confront the Cybertronians that came into the forest earlier?"

"Which Cybertronians? There are lots of Cybertronians here."

"The ones with the symbols that look like a red blocky face."

"Oh yes. I saw them," admitted Coyote. "Even talked with them."

Silverbolt had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "About what?"

"Oh this and that. I was going to offer my help, but then one of them insulted me," snarled Coyote. "And I can't have outsiders who reject me so blatantly. You remember what happened last time such a people came."

Silverbolt sighed. It was never a good idea to insult a trickster. They could hold a grudge forever and were very imaginative with their revenge. "Are they still alive?"

Coyote laughed. "They're alive, but they'll experience a fear they've never felt by the time I'm done with them."

Silverbolt groaned. He'd been worried something like this would happen. And he doubted he'd be able to find them before Coyote let him. "I don't supposed you would know where the Allspark shard they were looking for is?"

"Only if you have something shiny!"

Silverbolt groaned again. "Raven has it?" The answering grin from Coyote was enough to answer his question. "Of course he found it. I should have known." Silverbolt would have to find some trinkets he could try trading with. "I appreciate your assistance and apologize for my…associates' behavior. I will see about reprimanding them."

"Bite the green one for me, and we'll call it even," said Coyote.

"Deal." Silverbolt then backed away from the trickster and started tracking one of the trails. While he couldn't say for sure who it belonged to, he smelled accelerant so Hot Shot had to be in the group. The kid struck him as a bit high strung so he could probably use a bit of help.

Let's check in on the groups.

"This makes no sense whatsoever," muttered Red Alert.

"No kidding," said Rodimus. _"Hey, do you guys read me?"_

"_Yeah,"_ said Brawn.

"_Where are you guys?"_

"…_Somewhere with lots of trees."_

Rodimus groaned. "You know what? Next time we have to go into a forest, we're bringing Silverbolt or Sari, even if he have to spend the whole solar cycle convincing Kup. At least they know how to tell one place from another."

Red Alert nodded in agreement before frowning. "Actually, I was talking about how we were separated."

Rodimus frowned as well. "It was really weird." The group had been walking around, being as quiet as they could. Rodimus had looked away from the others to look around in front of him for anything useful, turned back to check on everyone else, and found that he was now alone with Red Alert. He had briefly called for the others, but hadn't gotten a response from anything but the Com links. "Wheeljack said something before we left. You think this has something to do with this?"

"He said Silverbolt made some sort of claim," corrected Red Alert. "And I am going to be asking him what he was talking about next time I see him."

Rodimus nodded in agreement. "Agreed."

A loud scream suddenly broke the silence of the forest. The two tensed, expecting some sort of attack. Instead more screams started to come through the trees along with heartbreaking sobs and crying.

Rodimus looked around with wide optics as he tried to find the source of the sounds. "Please tell me you know what's causing that."

Red Alert shook her head, for once looking completely terrified.

Elsewhere:

"Did you hear something?" asked Hot Shot, his optics and body twitching as he tried to locate to source of every odd sound he heard.

"No," said Brawn, who was willing to accept that most weird sounds on this planet were perfectly normal. "And stop acting so twitchy and scared. You're supposed to be a trained soldier!"

Hot Shot huffed. "I know. It's just that this place is really creepy. I still can't figure out how we got separated from everyone else so quickly. And…what happened to the sun?"

That got Brawn to look up. He frowned as he got a good look at the sky. When they'd set out, it had been clear with only a few clouds in it. Now, it was completely black with the stars twinkling down and no moon visible.

Not only was it way too early for the night cycle to begin, but it was not the time for a new moon. It was a week too early for that. "Okay, maybe there is something strange going on," admitted Brawn.

"What?" asked Hot Shot.

"Dunno. Maybe it's a hallucination." Brawn couldn't say for sure. He was the muscle of the team, not a scientist. That was Red Alert's job. "Just keep moving. It's not that big a deal."

Hot Shot gave Brawn a look of disbelief from behind. It was night at noon, and he didn't think it was a big deal?!

Elsewhere:

"Anyone reading me?" asked Ironhide through his com.

"_We are going to have a talk when we get back,"_ replied Rodimus.

"Yeah, yeah, how do we get back to you?"

"_I'll tell you when we figure out where we are."_

Ironhide groaned. "We're lost."

"Told ya," snarked Wasp. He checked his GPS unit. "I'm still not getting a signal for where we are. Tracker's working if you wanna keep looking for the shard."

Ironhide shrugged. "Yeah, we might run into the others when we find it."

The two headed off in the direction the Allspark was currently coming from.

"You know, this isn't exactly what I pictured when Rodimus said we'd be fighting Decepticons and retrieving the Allspark," complained Ironhide.

Wasp groaned. "Tell me about it. I can't believe I got my servos cut off."

"At least that's all that happened to you." Ironhide absentmindedly rubbed at his chassis. "I think half my internals were replaced or welded up. Red Alert's still making me come in for check ups."

"Talk about embarrassing."

"Yeah, not how I wanted my first fight with a Decepticon to go," agree Ironhide.

"And we have to put up Bumbler and the idiot again," added Wasp.

Ironhide snorted. "I know. Why is he even still an Autobot?"

"At least he's not on Cybertron," pointed out Wasp. "He'd've probably blown half of it up."

Ironhide snickered. "And Bulkhead would've wrecked the other half."

A snapping twig caught their attention. They spun in the direction of the sound.

It was five times their size and roughly shaped like a dragon. Its wings were enough to put an airplane to shame. It had no flesh to speak of, only bleached bone. It had three necks topped with three skulls. The one on the left was obviously a human. The skull on the right had deer antlers coming out of it. The one in the middle the two Cybertronians couldn't identify, but it was some sort of animal. Despite the fact that the skulls could not show any expression, they seemed to be frowning, and the whole thing was giving off an air of malice.

It lowered its three heads until they were level with the terrified Cybertronians. "What're you looking at?"

The two mechs exchanged terrified looks before breaking off into a run. The creature followed after them.

Elsewhere:

Megatron had stumbled across something odd. It appeared to be a village of sorts being massacred by soldiers. That didn't bother him. He'd massacred legions of Autobots, and he hadn't cared about their age or occupation. He cared even less since they were humans.

What was odd was that Megatron could see through the humans and structures.

Megatron had had a lot of spare time during his time in Isaac Sumdac's lab. In between spying, he'd looked up whatever information had caught his fancy. He'd occasionally watch a movie if he was really bored. So he was aware of several supernatural phenomena that humans had come up with, like ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, etc.

Apparently ghosts were real. Megatron had written off their existence before now. He briefly recalled reading some records that claimed that this forest was haunted. He should find those records and read them again so that he'd know what to expect next time he had to come out here.

Having quickly gotten over proof of an afterlife, Megatron activated his com link. "Oil Slick."

"_Sir."_

"It appears that this forest is…" Megatron was not going to say haunted until he was face to face with Oil Slick with proof. "…home to some very strange phenomena that I have never seen before."

"_Yeah, I know."_

Megatron raised an eyebrow at Oil Slick's tone. "What have you encountered?"

Oil Slick:

"Myself." Standing a few feet away from Oil Slick was another Oil Slick. It was copying everything he did. It wasn't a reflection because when Oil Slick used his right servo, the other used its right servo as well. It wasn't some sort of hallucination either. Oil Slick had found that out when he'd thrown a rock at it. The rock had hit with a clang, and he'd gotten a face full of dirts and leaves for his troubles.

"_What do you mean yourself?"_ demanded Megatron.

"It looks just like me and is copying all my movements," explained Oil Slick. "It's not a reflection or a hologram. I'd think it was a clone, but it's too perfect, and I doubt the Autobots stationed here would have any interest or equipment for the process."

"_Ignore it unless it proves a threat and continue tracking the Allspark shard," _instructed Megatron. _"There is obviously something…abnormal about this forest, but it is of no concern to us."_

Oil Slick nodded and casually stepped to the side at the same time as his doppelganger. Since its moves were exactly the same as his, it couldn't really do much to block his way. The only reason Oil Slick hadn't already done this was because he'd been curious about what he'd come across. It sounded like Megatron had come across something unusual as well. They'd have to trade stories once they met back up.

Elsewhere:

Spittor was running through the woods, not paying any attention to any trees he might be damaging as he ran. He was too intent on catching the raven. This was partly because he wanted to eat the bird and partly because he was supposed to retrieve the Allspark shard it was holding.

The raven was getting pretty darn annoyed. "Cut that out! We need those trees for nests!"

Spittor ignored it and knocked down another small tree.

"At least they produce oxygen! What do you do?"

Spittor ignored him and tried to catch it with his tongues. They did wrap around the bird, but it twisted and flowed out in a stream of black feathers before reforming. That obviously was not normal bird behavior and actually managed to make Spittor pause for a split second. Then he continued on his voracious rampage.

The raven sighed. "Another idiot who thinks with his stomach…or whatever you lot have." He made a turn. Spittor followed without thinking twice about the sudden change in direction. The chase continued for several more minutes and would have continued even longer had Spittor not literally run across the path of Brawn and Hot Shot.

Spittor paused long enough for Hot Shot to hit him with his flamethrowers. Spittor decided to abandon his pursuit of the bird in favor of attacking the Autobots. Dead Autobots were even better than an Allspark shard, right?

He fired his tentacles at Hot Shot, wrapping around him. Hot Shot turned his flamethrower on the tentacles. While that was going on, Brawn rushed Spittor. Spittor jumped at the last moment and landed on Brawn. This would normally take a bot out, but Brawn was strong enough that he managed to slowly stand up while holding up Spittor.

Spittor was somewhat thrown off by this before retracting his tentacles and snapping up Hot Shot. Brawn's optics widened. He immediately threw Spittor off him. Spittor was able to land easily enough and turned to face Brawn. Brawn pulled his blaster out and got ready to fire or defend and retaliate as necessary.

He was not expecting Spittor to spit Hot Shot at him. Brawn instinctively tried to catch the younger bot, not expecting the orange substance covering him to explode.

Spittor figured it would be easy to finish them off now that both were damaged and disoriented from the explosion. He took a few steps forward and suddenly had something impact him from behind. Before he knew it, something had driven itself into his optics, rendering him blind.

Spittor shrieked and transformed to his bipedal mode and threw off his attacker. The attacker landed on its feet a short distance from him.

It was Silverbolt, crouched low to the ground and growling. Spittor froze up. He remembered his last encounter with the techno-organic.

Silverbolt didn't give him a chance to recover. He pounced Spittor, wrapping his jaws around the other's neck. Spittor shrieked again and wrenched Silverbolt off with his tentacles. This was a big mistake. Silverbolt forced his talons into a seam and pulled up, wrenching the plate off and ripping apart the internal mechanisms underneath. Spittor immediately recoiled and retracted his tentacles but not before Silverbolt sliced completely through one of the seams on another tentacle with his wing. He immediately transformed, rushed Spittor before he could finished retracting his tentacles, and managed to get Spittor's arm into a lock before forcing him face-down to the ground.

Spittor started making distressed sounds and tried to get his tentacles out from under him. Silverbolt held him in place while he looked for seams on Spittor's back. There. That would work. He held Spittor as still as he could and drove his wing into the seam.

Spittor tensed up, made a pained sound, and then fell still as his color faded to gray. Silverbolt pulled his wing out and flicked some of the energon off before turning his attention to Brawn and Hot Shot. Brawn was actually still conscious and standing, even if he was supporting himself with a nearby tree. Hot Shot was unconscious with quite a bit of damage on him from the explosion. Silverbolt gave him a quick look over to see if there was anything really bad before scooping him up into his arms. He glanced at Brawn. "Do you need help walking?"

"No." Brawn pushed himself off a tree and grunted. It hurt but he could stand. "I've had worse."

"Do you know where Red Alert is?" asked Silverbolt.

"No, something's interfering with our locator beacons."

Silverbolt growled. Of all the times for Coyote to pull something like this…He would have to worry about it later. Now he had to get Hot Shot to Ratchet or Red Alert. Silverbolt positioned Hot Shot so he could hold him with one arm and knelt down to look for a scent.

To his surprise, he actually picked up the scent of another Cybertronian. The only thing he could say was that it wasn't Wasp (or Spittor for obvious reasons). Red Alert didn't smell different enough from other Cybertronians most of the time to pick her up. It was better than nothing though. He stood up. "This way."

Brawn grunted. "Hold on a klik while I call Red Alert."

Said femme had turned off her audials at that point and was communicating entirely through the com link. _"Any sign of them?"_

Rodimus shook his head. _"Nope. No Allspark shard, no Autobots, no Decepticons. I didn't think this forest was so big that we'd have this problem."_

"_We could be going in circles since our GPS units are malfunctioning,"_ pointed out Red Alert.

"…_You know, I didn't even think of that."_

"_Red Alert? You read me?"_ commed Brawn.

"_Affirmative."_

"_Good, Hot Shot and I got attacked by a Decepticon and need a patch job."_

Red Alert was instantly all business. _"How serious is it?"_

"_I'm mostly okay. I can walk, but it hurts. Hot Shot's offline so I can't speak for him."_

"_Do you need us to come to you?"_

"_No, Silverbolt's got him."_

"_What's Silverbolt doing here?" _interjected Rodimus.

"_I have no idea," _admitted Brawn. _"But I ain't complaining. He took down the Con that attacked us."_

Rodimus blinked. _"He deactivated a Con?" _

"_Yeah, might wanna come back for the body later."_

Rodimus nodded absentmindedly. _"Yeah. We will…as soon as we find you guys."_

And that was when Silverbolt seemingly melted out from between the trees, holding Hot Shot and followed by Brawn. Rodimus, Red Alert, and Brawn blinked in surprise. Rodimus and Red Alert noticed that the other party wasn't acting like they were hearing something and cautiously reactivated their audials.

The screaming and sobbing had stopped. Red Alert hurried over to examine Hot Shot. "What happened to him?"

"The Decepticon tried to eat him," said Brawn. "Then spat him out covered in something disgusting…Then he exploded."

"The Con or Hot Shot?" asked Rodimus.

"Hot Shot."

"Put him down," commanded Red Alert. Silverbolt obeyed. She immediately removed Hot Shot's chassis armor and started working on several damaged lines inside his body. "The explosion ruptured several lines and cracked his fuel tank. It also looks like whatever detonated was acidic enough that it has significantly weakened his armor. As soon as I'm done with the first aid, we're heading back."

"What about Brawn?" asked Silverbolt.

Brawn waved off his concern. "I'm fine. I ain't leaking anything, and I can stand so I don't have anything that I need to worry about."

Silvebolt tilted his head. "But Hot Shot exploded on you."

"If it the combustible substance was inside a Decepticon, it probably wasn't too reactive," explained Red Alert. "That way if there was a leak, the Con would probably survive."

Silverbolt thought for a moment before nodding. That made as much sense as everything else.

"So, what're you doing here?" asked Rodimus. "I thought you guys were supposed to be with Kup."

Silverbolt nodded. "I left. I was worried."

"About the Cons?"

Silverbolt shook his head. "This forest is full of spirits. Insulting one can have…consequences."

"Spirits?" Rodimus searched his processor for that word. "You mean like ghosts?"

Silverbolt nodded. "Some. Others are…not ghosts. Beings with no set form. It is rare for them to confront mortals. I was worried that the shard would catch their attention, and you seemed to be taking too long."

Rodimus and Red Alert stared, not sure what to make of this. Brawn was frowning. "You mean that talking d-"

Brawn was cut off when Silverbolt suddenly moved and wrapped a hand around Brawn's mouth. Brawn would have reacted negatively if he hadn't seen how scared Silverbolt looked. "Coyote. A talking coyote. Coyote is a primordial spirit with no real form. He simply prefers a coyote. He is a trickster and very easily insulted. You should only refer to him as Coyote when in his territory, understand?" Brawn nodded and Silverbolt removed his hand. "You cannot fight spirits with the methods you are used to. It is better to avoid confrontations all together."

"Right…" said Brawn, slightly weirded out by Silverbolt's behavior.

"So this…Coyote is the one causing all the weird stuff that's been happening to us?" asked Rodimus.

"Most likely," said Silverbolt. "He may have had assistance from others."

Brawn grunted. "Didn't seem that bad." He looked up. The sky was blue again. "It was dark where Hot Shot and I were. Really, the big problem was the Con that attacked us." Brawn's optics suddenly widened and he straightened. "Slag! He followed a bird that was holding the shard!"

Rodimus's optics widened. "What?!"

"That was Raven," said Silverbolt. The two mechs turned to look at him. "He is similar to Coyote, a trickster with no set form, but he prefers the form of a raven. He is less omniscient than Coyote and more willing to work with others. You should be able to barter for the shard he has."

"What would a bird-ghost-"

"Not ghost, spirit."

"Bird-spirit," corrected Brawn, "Thing want?"

"Raven is drawn to shiny objects," explained Silverbolt. "It is likely what drew him to the shard in the first place."

Rodimus thought for a moment. "We can come up with something. Do you think you can locate Raven?"

"It would depend on if Raven is willing to let us find him."

Elsewhere:

Megatron paused as he caught sight of the Allspark shard. The black bird from before still had it and was sitting on a tree branch while eyeing him. Megatron snorted as he reached for reached for his swords. "You've given us quite the run around, haven't you?"

"Yes, one tends to do that when they are avoiding being eaten!"

Megatron blinked at the unexpected response. "You can talk."

The bird nodded. "Yes, yes, I know. 'Birds don't talk.', 'I've gotta be dreaming.', and all that other stuff. Keep your guys from trying to eat me, will ya? It's so annoying."

"Spittor is the only one who will try that."

"The one that looks like a frog? Well, at least I don't have to worry about him anymore."

Megatron made a note that something had happened to Spittor. "I need that object you're holding."

"No, you want it," corrected Raven. "There's a difference."

Megatron twitched and briefly considered attacking the bird. He shot that idea down. It probably wouldn't work. "Well, what would it take for you to give that to me then?"

Raven perked up. "I'll give it to me if you give me some shinies. I love shinies."

Shinies? Wait. Megatron might be able to work with that. He was in the habit of carrying around small bits of precious metals and stones in case he had to unexpectedly land on a planet that did not use the credit system. That way he would always have some currency on hand if he needed it.

Megatron shifted through his subspace and pulled out a few pieces of platinum and a few polished gems. Raven straightened when he caught sight of them. "Ooh! That'll work!" He swooped down, somehow turning into a mass of black feathers, and twisted around Megatron's servo before disappearing into the shadows of the forest.

Megatron glanced at the shard left behind in his servos and took a moment to make sure it was the real thing before carefully putting it away and activating his comm. "Oil Slick. I have retrieved the Allspark shard."

"_I found Spittor."_

"What is his condition?"

"_Deactivated. His tentacles got ripped apart and one of the transformation seams on his back has damage that suggests someone stabbed him through it. Want me to bring him back to base?"_

"Yes. Maybe we can use his components." Waste not, want not. "I'll see if I can find and assist you." Spittor was large enough that Oil Slick would have a hard time moving him.

"_Of course, I'll be keeping an optic out for you."_

Main group of Autobots:

"He's safe to move," said Red Alert. Silverbolt picked up Hot Shot again. "We'll need to get him back to base to finish up. I don't want that crack in the fuel tank to get any bigger."

"Do we have time to look for Wasp and Ironhide?" asked Rodimus.

"We will likely run into them before we leave," said Silverbolt. "So long as they've learned their lesson."

"What's the lesson?" asked Rodimus

"Don't insult people you don't know or you'll find yourself in over your head."

"That's true," muttered Red Alert.

Silverbolt's prediction proved to be correct. Within a few minutes, they stumbled over Ironhide and Wasp hiding under a small cliff. They both looked completely terrified. "Ironhide, Wasp? What're you two doing?" asked Rodimus

"There was a giant monster!"

"It was nothing but bones!"

"It had three heads!"

"It kept trying to eat us!"

Silverbolt nodded. "Coyote can have a pretty nasty imagination when he wants to."

Ironhide blinked. "What're you doing here?"

"I thought you might have trouble with the spirits in this forest," explained Silverbolt. "They usually leave others alone, but I thought they might be more active now."

"Why?"

"We need to keep moving," interrupted Red Alert.

"Hey, we can talk and walk at the same time," said Brawn.

"There are no monsters that look like the one you saw," explained Silverbolt. "It was most likely Coyote trying to scare you after you insulted him. We were able to find you, so he is done scaring you."

The two looked around like they were still expecting something to come out and attack them before climbing out and falling in step. "So, how do these spirit things work?" asked Rodimus.

Silverbolt sighed. "Spirits are primordial beings, souls that do not need bodies. They do not have a real form and are connected to nature. They often appear as what one expects to see. Some are capable of manipulating their form as they see fit, such as Coyote and Raven.

"They were more active in the olden days because the native inhabitants of this country had a deep respect for nature and did their best to live in harmony. When a spirit spoke to them, they listened. Not all spirits were benevolent, but the ones that were malevolent did not focus on humans.

"Then humans came from across the sea. They had no respect for the natives, human or beast, the land even less so. They subjugated the people, they hunted the beasts, they tore apart the land. Even had the spirits been at full strength, the humans from across the sea were too numerous. The spirits slowed them down, but that was all they could do.

"Eventually, the spirits of this land were forced to retreat and hide away. Many came to this forest. Because of the sins of the humans that came, they no longer show themselves freely. There are rare instances when they show themselves, when a human shows respect to the land, a human is behaving in a way that enrages a spirit, or one who is sensitive to ghosts or spirits comes seeking them."

"Why here?" asked Rodimus. "What's so special about this place?"

"This place is a gateway."

"Where to?"

"Different planes of existence."

"…Right of course. That makes perfect sense," muttered Rodimus sarcastically.

"There are several planes of existence," continued Silverbolt. "We live our whole lives in one particular plane. When we die we move to another. And there are yet other planes inhabited by other beings. You see?"

"I think so," said Red Alert.

"Why are they suddenly bothering us now though?" asked Rodimus. "The repair crew never mentioned anything about them…"

"Because they are a repair crew that crashed here, and you are soldiers that came here with a purpose," explained Silverbolt. "It brings up bad memories, I'd imagine."

"What sort of bad memories?" asked Ironhide.

Silverbolt stopped for a moment before looking back. "You have to understand. The invaders that came here did terrible things. Most of the humans that originally lived here were either wiped out or corralled into 'reservations'. Most of the humans you see today are descended from these invaders."

"What's that got to do with us?" asked Wasp.

"It does not sound the least bit familiar to you?" asked Silverbolt. Wasp shook his head. Silverbolt sighed. "I was able to communicate with the spirits through writing. Unlike humans, they understood that I was from another world, although the words they used were different. I told them about the history of Cybertron. We came to a realization. The way the native people of this land were treated was similar to how the Decepticons were treated by the Autobots."

"Hey! That's not true! They got what they deserved after what they did during the war."

"And what caused the war?" asked Silverbolt. "The Decepticons were treated like garbage. Of course they would take offense to that. I'm not saying I condone the course of action they chose, but I can understand why they chose it."

"That's why they were exiled," insisted Ironhide.

"But was that really the correct way to deal with the Decepticons?" asked Silverbolt. "Yes, they did horrible things as a whole, but I do not think they are all as terrible as Megatron or Starscream, just as not all Autobots are paradigms of virtue. And then there's the nature of the treaty. The Decepticons were given no say, and the terms sentenced them to an incredibly cruel fate. It is the sort of thing that would only encourage them to start another war…Much for the same reasons the previous war started."

"Can we get back to why the spirits messed with our heads but left the repair crew alone?" Brawn reminded everyone.

"They crashed here due to bad luck and were more interested in leaving than anything else," Silverbolt repeated. "They were given the benefit of doubt."

"But we set out to come here," realized Rodimus.

Silverbolt nodded. "I am also concerned that history will repeat itself. I do not want to see humanity suffer simply because they were deemed inferior."

There was something sad about the tone Silverbolt used, like he'd already had to see this happen more times than he wanted. Brawn had heard that sometimes during the war, but that couldn't be the case here. So why…Brawn's optics locked on the bandanna Silverbolt was always wearing. "Where'd you get that bandanna?"

Silverbolt blinked and glanced at his bandanna. "It was a gift from a human friend. She thought it looked 'cool'. I'm fairly sure she meant the way it looked rather than the temperature."

"Have you had many human friends?"

Silverbolt tensed slightly. "Yes. However, Sari is the only human I interact with regularly at the moment." Silverbolt hurried forward. "The base is just through here. I'll take Hot Shot to Ratchet." He broke out of the forest and hurried to the base, ignoring Flareup's questioning about where he'd been.

Wasp narrowed his optics. "He's hiding something."

Rodimus shrugged. "Well, it's not like we aren't already keeping an optic on him. If he does anything that suggests he's dangerous, we'll do what we have to."

"Where were you?!" shouted Kup as he stormed up to them. "You've been gone for four solar cycles!"

Everyone's optics widened. "But…it's only been a few cycles!" protested Ironhide.

"Our chronometers all indicate it hasn't been that long," added Red Alert.

"Yeah, well, that sun don't lie," said Kup, pointing up at the sun. "It's set and risen four times since you went looking for that shard. Why, if I was your commanding officer, I'd demote you and ship you to a different base!"

"Yeah…" Rodimus decided not to mention that they hadn't gotten the shard. "It's been a long solar cycle."

"So, who else thinks we should never get into the forest again?" asked Wasp. He got several groans of agreement.

Decepticon base:

"My liege! I knew you would return!" shouted Lugnut.

Megatron frowned as he dropped Spittor's body. "And you find the need to shout this because?"

"It's been four solar cycles," said Cyclonus.

Megatron and Oil Slick exchanged looks. "Our systems indicate it was only a few cycles."

"The situation was rather odd," noted Icy Blitzwing. "We were unable to detect your signals from within the forest. Furthermore, when Cyclonus was sent to search for you, he was unable to find anything." He switched to Random. "Time Warp! Ahahahahaha! Let's do the time warp again!" Strika slapped him. He switched to Hothead. "Hey! Watch it you-" His insult was cut off by Lugnut punching him.

"Did you get the Allspark shard?" asked Strika.

"Yes." Megatron placed the shard in the container they'd been using to hold the shards and hide their signal. "However, there were some complications."

Strika eyed Spittor's body. "So we can see…"

"What happened to the idiot anyway?" asked Hothead.

"Looks like he had a run in with an Autobot," said Oil Slick. He pointed at an injury on Spittor's back. "One with a bladed weapon of some kind."

"And his parts?"

"Fairly intact. They can be used for the space bridge," said Oil Slick.

"Good," said Megatron. Maybe it would speed things up. "Any news?"

Blitzwing switched to Icy. "You know who contacted us about the space bridge expert."

"And what did he have to say?"

"He'll be ready to move soon."

Megatron smirked. "Excellent. Let's prepare for his arrival. He'll be here for a while."

_And now Butterflies presents The Aftermath._

"This seems like the sort of thing you save for Halloween," drawled Vector.

"The idea of the forest being haunted literally came to me half way through the season," admitted KHGiggle. "I just came up with a reason that nothing happened before."

"And Silverbolt killed Spittor…which is especially shocking considering he is supposed to be Optimus."

"I just wanted to get rid of Spittor," muttered KHGiggle. "He just seems so…I can't even think of a word that will describe how much I dislike him. There's nothing outstanding about his personality! He's a glutton, it's been implied he's a cannibal, and there's nothing interesting you can do with him! Even his own teammates don't care about him. Look how Strika and Oil Slick reacted to his death! They don't even care!"

"I still can't believe you dislike him more than Shockwave…or Starscream…or Megatron…or any of the other Decepticons."

"At least they have interesting backstories!"

"What about Blackout?"

"He still has more backstory."

Vector rolled his optics before returning his attention to the audience. "And a shout out to Fanatic97 for correctly guessing that the woman from last chapter was Circuit Breaker."

"I don't recall ever seeing her in any Transformer fanfiction," said KHGiggle before pausing. "Oh, wait. No. She might've been in a crossover with Superman…As a Kryptonian. Not sure if that counts…"

_This has been The Afterword._


	11. Loss

"So, how does this bonding exercise work again?" asked Flareup.

Rodimus had decided to call together every single bot and try a trust exercise he'd found. Where he'd found it, he refused to say. "We go around and share something about ourselves the others don't know about."

"Who starts?" asked Flareup.

"I will," said Rodimus. "Kup named me Hot Shot because of my paint job and how brash I was as a cadet."

"You're still just as brash," said Kup.

"Okay, your turn Red Alert," said Rodimus.

Red Alert sighed. "A sharkticon ate my servo." She gave everyone a 'There. Happy?' look.

"Kup?"

Kup tapped his cigar. "This is my antipsychotic medication." Everyone scooted away.

"Okay…" Apparently Rodimus hadn't known that either. "Brawn?"

Brawn shrugged. "Can't think of anything." He was pretty outspoken and didn't see much point in secrets.

"Ratchet?"

Ratchet glared at Rodimus. Wheeljack decided to interrupt. "I've got all sorts of stuff that I'm not ashamed of but would make bots give me weird look. I used to be a Wreckers fanboy. I'm fond of soap operas. I used to date Perceptor. I spent a lot of time in Ratchet's apartment for most of Bumblebee's childhood because I sparkling sat him. I secretly like blowing stuff up. One time when we were really overcharged Ratchet and I started making out-"

Bumblebee shrieked and slapped his servos over his audials. "I did not need to hear that!"

"Eh, it was only the one time." Wheeljack looked around. "So, who's next?"

"Uh, I don't think there's anything that I can confess," said Bulkhead. "I grew up on an energon farm. I liked drawing and studying about space bridges in my spare time. That's pretty much it…"

"I've got some embarrassing stuff," admitted Flareup.

Bumblebee perked up. "Ooh, what?"

"Uh, when I say embarrassing, I mean that I would rather die than tell anyone about them," explained Flareup.

"I can't think of anything I wanna confess," said Hot Shot.

"My sire was a Decepticon," said Bumblebee. "But everyone already knows about that."

"I am Wreck-gar! I am from planet Junkion!"

"No you're not," said Sari.

Wreck-gar didn't seem to hear her. "I like polka!"

"Wait. You're the one who keeps playing polka music in the middle of the night?" asked Ratchet. It kept waking him up, and he had been trying to figure out where the music came from for the past week.

"Garbage bot smell bad," said Slag.

"I'm not sure the Dinobots have anything they can share," commented Silverbolt.

"What about you Silverbolt?"

"…I enjoy a good game of fetch." Silverbolt pointedly ignored the face palm from Kup.

"I'm not saying anything," said Sari.

"Your turn Prowl," said Bumblebee.

Prowl gave him a look. "This exercise is completely pointless." He stood and stalked off towards his room.

"For once, I agree with him," said Wasp, also standing and walking off. That seemed to be a signal for everyone to start standing and wandering off.

Rodimus drooped. "Well, that was a bust."

Kup shrugged. "Way too soon for that sort of thing. First you gotta get everyone to trust each other."

Rodimus sighed. "I'm not sure that's even possible."

Little by little, everyone trickled to their rooms. Soon the base was completely quiet.

Ratchet was woken up around roughly 2 AM by a distress beacon. His instincts took over before he realized it was a personal distress signal rather than a general distress signal. That meant it was either Wheeljack or Bumblebee.

It was coming from Bulkhead and Bumblebee's room. Ratchet made his way over, muttering under his breath the whole time. "Bumblebee, you had better have a damn good reason for-" Ratchet froze up as he entered the room.

Sprawled on the ground in a puddle of energon was Bumblebee.

Ratchet only froze for a split second before letting his instincts take over and scooping up Bumblebee, the minbot's head lolling back to a disturbing and unnatural degree. _"Intruder alert! Bumblebee is injured and-"_ Ratchet noticed something else. _"Bulkhead is missing!" _That was all Ratchet bothered to report before he was running to the medbay.

"_Ratchet, what do you mean there's an intruder?"_ asked Rodimus. Ratchet didn't reply. _"Ratchet?"_

"_Bumblebee is badly injured,"_ commed Red Alert, who had joined Ratchet. _"We're going to be busy for the next few cycles."_

"_Then everyone gather together. If there's really an intruder, we need to stick together. Roll call."_

"_Brawn."_

"_Kup."_

"_Ironhide."_

"_Wasp."_

"_Hot Shot."_

"_Flareup."_

"_Prowl."_

"_Wheeljack!"_

"_Why aren't the others comming in?"_ asked Rodimus.

"_They either don't have functional com units or don't know how to use them,"_ explained Kup. _"They probably have no idea someone's snuck in."_

"_Then meet up in the rec room! We'll get them once we're sure everyone else is present and accounted for."_ Rodimus unslung his bow and carefully made his way out of his room and to the rec room. He didn't see anyone as he made his way to the rec room. After a short amount of time, everyone who had gotten the com had gathered up. They were all tense and ready to attack at the first provocation.

"What-" Everyone spun around towards the source of the voice. Those who were able to fired or threw a weapon towards the source. Fortunately, Silverbolt was in his beast mode so they went over his head. He recoiled, wide-eyed.

"Sorry," apologized Rodimus. "What are you doing?"

"I smelled energon and heard everyone moving around," explained Silverbolt. "What's going on?"

"Someone attacked Bumblebee. We don't know who. Go get the Dinobots and Sari," instructed Rodimus. Silverbolt nodded and hurried away. Rodimus activated his com. _"How's Bumblebee?"_

"_Whoever did this was trying to kill him,"_ said Red Alert before cutting it off. Rodimus knew this meant that Red Alert was not to be bothered.

A moment later, the Dino Clan and Wreck-gar rather noisily made their way over to them. The Dinobots looked noticeably grumpy, but Silverbolt and Sari were awake and alert. Wreck-gar was awake, but was as clueless as always, humming a song as his eyes looked up at the ceiling.

"We're going to Bumblebee's room," instructed Rodimus. "Be very quiet. We don't know if the intruder is still here."

The trip was completely uneventful. The Dinobots immediately found comfortable places to lie down and went back to sleep.

Bulkhead had painted all sorts of images on both sides of the room. The pictures were now covered in Bumblebee's energon. In the center of the room was a large puddle of energon. A set of pede prints went from the puddle into the hallway and stopped at the med bay.

Hot Shot gulped and looked away. "Why would someone do this?"

Prowl frowned. "Where's Bulkhead? There's not even an image in the splatter."

"Maybe he attacked Bumbler," suggested Wasp.

A second later, he found himself picked up and slammed against a wall by a furious Flareup. "How dare you even think Bulkhead is capable of doing something like this!"

"Hey, you put him down!" demanded Ironhide.

Rodimus grabbed Flareup's arms. "Flareup, now is not a good time for this sort of thing."

"Besides, there's no way Bulkhead could've done this," interrupted Kup. "He doesn't have the skill for this sort of thing."

"And he would've made a lot of noise," pointed out Brawn. "Whoever did this got away without making a sound."

"And managed to get rid of Bulkhead," added Kup. "That can't be easy. I'd say whoever did this has stealth training."

Everyone looked at Prowl. "Even if I had finished my training, I would never be able to move Bulkhead against his will without someone noticing."

"Can anyone think of a Decepticon who might be able to do this?" asked Rodimus.

"Oil Slick has some sort of ninja training," said Wheeljack.

"He's more likely to use some sort of virus that would kill all of us," pointed out Brawn.

"What about that purple jet with the bunny ears?" asked Ironhide.

Sari raised an eyebrow as she gave Ironhide an incredulous look. "Bunny ears?"

"…Even the Dinobots call him a bunny," muttered Ironhide

"It's a possibility," admitted Rodimus. "We don't know enough about him to be sure though. Is there anyone else?"

"Oh slag!" swore Wheeljack. "I just remembered Lockdown!"

Kup's head swung around. "I thought you said he was dead?!"

"No, I said Ratchet stabbed him in the chassis with a laser scalpel, but his ship still disappeared somehow!"

"Who's Lockdown?" questioned Rodimus.

"He's a bounty hunter," explained Kup. "No allegiance to anyone, works for the highest bidder, rips off other bots' parts for trophies."

"He looks really scary too," added Wheeljack.

"If this was Lockdown and Bulkhead is missing, then Bulkhead must have been his target," realized Prowl.

"Then Bumblebee was just collateral damage," realized Rodimus. "If that's the case, we don't have to worry about anyone trying to finish the job. Instead, we should focus on why someone would want to abduct Bulkhead."

"He knows more about space bridges than most scientists," said Wheeljack.

"Are you serious?" asked Wasp.

"Yeah, he knows more than me, and I helped design them!"

"But he's so…bad at stuff," said Ironhide, who could remember some disastrous training sessions that involved Bulkhead.

"He's a savant."

Rodimus gave Wheeljack a confused look. "…A what?"

"It's a human term," explained Wheeljack. "It means you're not very skilled in most areas, maybe even considerably less intelligent than most of the population, but there's one subject that you excel in to such a degree that you'd be considered a genius otherwise. I know Bulkhead's not that bright, but for some reason he's able to comprehend everything about space bridges very easily."

"If that's the case, then how'd he end up on a space bridge repair crew?" asked Brawn.

"Oh, hands-on training," explained Wheeljack. "The science council had their optics on him, but they couldn't go through the normal procedures since he got expelled from boot camp. Bulkhead doesn't seem to care as long as he gets to work with space bridges."

Rodimus rubbed his chin in thought. "So if we factor that in…" Rodimus's optics widened. "The Decepticons have tried to steal space bridge technology before." That…that was bad. "Brawn, Kup, Ironhide, Wasp, start a grid search. Silverbolt, can you track the scent of the intruder?"

Silverbolt shrugged. "I guess we'll find out."

"Prowl, you're a stealth expert. Do you think you can find anything?"

Prowl raised an optic ridge at the fact that Rodimus was involving him. "I'll look in the room and see if I can spot anything out of the ordinary in the city."

"Good, get started," instructed Rodimus. "Time is not on our side here."

They immediately ran off. "Should we be insulted that we got left behind?" asked Sari.

"We're not actually part of the military," explained Wheeljack. "Heck, I'm not even suited for combat outside of the explosions I cause!"

"I don't think anyone on Rodimus's team knows how to track," pointed out Flareup. "Especially on organic planets. So he has to ask for outside assistance. It's not unusual in a normal military setting."

"Personally, I don't mind getting left behind," commented Wheeljack. "I want to be here for Bumblebee when he wakes up and for Ratchet when he comes out of his zone."

Flareup sighed. "I hope Ratchet can fix everything…Bumblebee's kind of annoying, but I still like him, you know."

Sari blinked. "No."

"What? You never had any friends like that?"

Sari clenched her hands into fists. "No. I didn't."

Down below:

Bulkhead groaned. "Ow…Did I roll out of my berth again?" That happened sometimes, and his head hurt enough for that to be a possibility. He didn't get a response from Bumblebee like he usually would. He opened his optics.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty!" shouted Random Blitzwing right in Bulkhead's face.

Bulkhead backpedaled. "Decepticon!" He got ready to attack/defend himself but Lugnut and Strika attacked him from behind and pinned him in place. That was when Bulkhead finally got a good look around and realized that this was not his shared berthroom.

There were dark and jagged rocks.

Dim lighting.

Decepticons. Everywhere.

"Am I having a nightmare?" asked Bulkhead.

"I can assure you that you are awake and perfectly lucid," said Megatron. "Are you aware of why you were brought here?"

"Uh…" Bulkhead searched his memory banks. Raised on an energon farm. Flunked out of boot camp. Works on a space bridge repair crew. "I can't think of anything."

Megatron rolled his optics. "We require your assistance. We have been attempting to build a space bridge."

"Oh…" Yeah, that was really bad. "I don't really want to work for you."

"How dare you deny Megatron what he demands!" shouted Lugnut.

"He tried to kill me!" protested Bulkhead.

"As I would any Autobot who attempts to stand in my way," confirmed Megatron. He pointed his fusion cannon at Bulkhead's head and started powering it up.

Bulkhead panicked. He didn't want to die.

Then again, he'd rather die than help Megatron gain space bridge technology. He had a good idea of what he'd do with it.

He certainly didn't want to watch his death coming. It was bad enough knowing you were going to be killed. He screwed his optics shut.

Megatron frowned. Looks like this gambit had failed. Either he realized that Megatron wouldn't be able to get anything from him if his head was blown open or he would rather die than help them, likely the latter given the information Shockwave had provided.

Megatron immediately moved his cannon so it was pointing at the humans. Their gasps got Bulkhead to open his optics to check what happened. "Humans?!"

"They were brought here to reverse engineer the space bridge using a set of schematics I acquired," explained Megatron. "They have been less than successful and I see little reason to leave them alive."

"Okay, okay, I'll help!"

Megatron snorted as he lowered his fusion cannon and cancelled the firing order. "Typical, sentimental youngling, willing to betray yourself to keep a few insects' lives from being snuffed out."

Bulkhead hoped that he hadn't just made a big mistake.

Detroit:

"_Has anyone found anything yet?"_ asked Rodimus.

"_Negative."_

"_No."_

"_No."_

"_Negative."_

"_Not yet,"_ commed Prowl. He looked down towards Silverbolt. "Have you picked anything up yet?"

"No. This…Lockdown smells too similar to most other Cybertronians." Silverbolt huffed. "I thought I picked up something else, but it seems to have disappeared…"

Prowl sighed. "I guess we shouldn't be surprised. We only located his ship through a stroke of luck last time."

"Any news about Bumblebee?" asked Silverbolt.

"Not that I've heard. Must still be in surgery."

Silverbolt let out a whine. "Poor Ratchet. It is never easy to have a child injured."

Prowl thought about what Silverbolt had done when Sari had been kidnapped. If Sari was ever purposefully injured, Silverbolt would probably kill her attacker. Actually, Prowl was certain Ratchet would do the same thing if he got his servos on Bumblebee's attacker, especially if it was Lockdown like they suspected. Prowl would do the same if anyone ever tried to hurt the Dinobots.

Prowl paused. Where did that come from? Just because he'd been adopted as their father didn't mean he felt the same way. Not to mention they could take much more damage than him and were unlikely to be hurt that badly.

"I think I got something," Silverbolt suddenly said. He sniffed the ground a few more times. "It's definitely Cybertronian. I am not entirely sure it's the abductor, but there's a trace of coal that the others do not have."

Prowl nodded. "We'll follow." _"Silverbolt picked up something. We're going to check it out."_

"_Continue to check in,"_ instructed Rodimus.

"_Understood."_

The two followed the trail for a couple of miles. It led them to the docks bordering the lake. Neither were familiar with the area so they couldn't say if anything was out of place. "Do you smell anything?" asked Prowl.

Silverbolt followed the trail to the water. "It stops here. I think he jumped in the lake."

"I guess he wanted to get rid of the coal dust," commented Prowl. "Which means he was aware of the residue on his body."

"It may be a good idea to follow the scent to the source," commented Silverbolt. "Perhaps we'll find Bulkhead at the other end."

Prowl nodded. "That seems like a good idea. Just let me-" Both tensed and jumped away as an electric scrambling device landed where they'd just been standing. _"We're under attack!"_ Prowl jerked his servo away as his audials erupted with static

"Can't let you do that." Both jerked towards the source of the voice, Lockdown. Prowl immediately got in a combat stance, and Silverbolt started growling. Lockdown chuckled. "A cyber ninja and a tehno-organic. This should be interesting."

Prowl and Silverbolt immediately attacked. Prowl rushed in and sliced at Lockdown with a chakram across the face. Lockdown easily stepped back. Prowl jumped and flipped over him. While Prowl was over Lockdown's head, Silverbolt swiped at Lockdown's legs with his wing. Lockdown planted his servo none to gently on Silverbolt's head and twisted his body in a horizontal position before landing and throwing Silverbolt into the nearby lake.

By then, Prowl had landed behind Lockdown, identified a pressure point, and lashed out to hit it as hard as he could while maintaining precision. Lockdown smoothly slid around and caught Prowl's attack and twisted. Prowl quickly grabbed on and broke out of the grab, but not before Lockdown had dislocated the servo Prowl had originally attacked with. Prowl quickly backed away from Lockdown.

Silverbolt suddenly jumped out of the lake and towards Lockdown. Lockdown dodged easily and went to grab Silverbolt, only for his hand to go through him. "What the-" Before he could recover, Prowl landed a kick to Lockdown's head. To add some extra damage, Prowl spun his tire as fast as it would go. It also gave Prowl some extra momentum to get away before Lockdown recovered.

Then the real Silverbolt in bipedal mode propelled himself out of the water and swung his tomahawk towards Lockdown's midsection. Lockdown managed to angle himself just enough so that while the tomahawk cut into him slightly, it snagged on a piece or armor. He transformed his hook into a prod, which he jammed into Silverbolt's arm. Silverbolt immediately started seizing and was forced to let go of his weapon. Lockdown jerked the prod away, and Silverbolt fell to ground, still spasming.

Prowl attacked again, going for the back of Lockdown's neck. If he could sever the spinal relay, Lockdown wouldn't be able to move. Lockdown realized Prowl's plan and spun, knocking Prowl's hand away and punching towards Prowl's face. Prowl blocked it and tried to counter with a roundhouse kick. Lockdown caught it and swept Prowl's other leg out from under him.

At that moment, Silverbolt's tomahawk went flying towards Lockdown. He was barely able to dodge it. Prowl, who'd managed to catch himself, took advantage of Lockdown's distraction to break his leg free and use a move that looked oddly like breakdancing to get back to his feet.

Lockdown grunted in annoyance. He'd expected Silverbolt to be down longer. These two were better than he'd expected them to be. Better wrap this up. When the two moved to attack him, Lockdown moved out of the way and slapped a stasis cuff on Prowl's servo. Prowl's optics widened before he collapsed to the ground. Silverbolt's eyes widened, and he pulled back to keep from attacking Prowl by accident. Lockdown didn't care and actually swung Prowl around to hit Silverbolt in the head. Silverbolt was sent flying into a building. Lockdown took advantage of Silverbolt's stunned state to slap the other half of the stasis cuff onto Silverbolt.

Deciding the fight was over, Lockdown relaxed and stretched a bit. That had actually been pretty enjoyable. It had been a while since someone gave him so much trouble. Lockdown grabbed the stasis cuffs and dragged them over to a dilapidated warehouse where Lockdown had relocated his ship.

Lockdown easily dragged them into the ship and locked them in a holding cell after removing Prowl's mods. Lockdown checked his list to see if there was anyone else on this planet he should focus on. Maybe that other techno-organic, but one should be enough for that client. He left the two alone as he went to start preparing for take-off.

Once Lockdown left, Prowl started humming. His processor had been running a mile a minute since the stasis cuffs had been locked into place. He couldn't allow himself to be captured. He couldn't allow Silverbolt to be captured. He still couldn't contact anyone. He could hope someone would find them, but he was too used to relying on himself. The only solution that Prowl could think of was to use processor over matter to unlock the stasis cuffs.

This was iffy. Cyber ninja masters could study for their whole lives and never master the ability. Prowl himself never figured out how to use it. He'd been trying to learn the technique when the repair crew had picked him up. Then there was the meditation. Prowl needed to enter a deep meditation if he wanted to be able to use processor over matter for even a klik, but his glitch…Prowl wasn't sure he'd be able to remain conscious long enough to make any sort of attempt.

Then Silverbolt groaned and sat up, rubbing at his head with his cuffed hand. Prowl blinked. Silverbolt paused as he realized there was something on his arm and glanced at it. Surprised, he lifted up the arm with the stasis cuff, lifting Prowl's arm as well, before turning his attention to Prowl. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Silverbolt snapped his mouth shut, and his hand went to his throat. His vocalizer must have been knocked loose like Ratchet had warned him could happen.

"How are you still moving?" asked Prowl, understandably shocked.

Silverbolt shrugged, not sure himself. He'd have thought the stasis cuffs would affect him as well. Maybe his organic half rendered them ineffective? He messed with the cuffs for a moment before finding the unlocking mechanism.

Prowl quickly got to his feet and started looking for a way out. The controls weren't nearby, and there was no ventilation. If he had his weapons, he could probably deactivate the power to the cell. Unless…

Prowl started feeling around the walls of the cell, Silverbolt watching him curiously. Prowl finally found what he was looking for. "Silverbolt, there's a seam here. Can you pull this panel off?"

Silverbolt shrugged and extended his claws. After a moment of poking, he managed to slip them inside the seam and use some leverage to pull the panel off. Prowl immediately started looking over the wires inside. He grabbed a few wires and pulled until they gave. The laser bars powered down. Silverbolt gave Prowl an impressed look. "Let's get out of here." Silverbolt signed something. Prowl gave him a blank look. "What?" Silverbolt huffed and tapped at Prowl's Autobot insignia, where his hologram projector had been. "I have spares of my projector and weapons. We don't need to worry about retrieving them."

Silverbolt nodded and started doing some more odd movements. He looked like he was waving something around. Prowl stared blankly. Silverbolt tried to puff himself up to look bigger. Prowl still didn't get it. Silverbolt huffed and started making odd shapes with his hands. It took Prowl a moment to figure out that Silverbolt was making letters and another moment to figure out what the letters were supposed to be. "Oh! Bulkhead!" Silverbolt nodded. "Yes, it would be a good idea to look for him while we're here. Can you smell him?" Silverbolt shrugged and signed something else. Prowl had no idea what Silverbolt was trying to say and resolved to learn sign language after this debacle was over.

They carefully and quickly went through the rest of the cells. No one else was present. They moved on to the next area of the ship. This was apparently where Lockdown kept all of his trophies. Both winced at the sheer number of bots that must have been abducted and torn apart. Prowl looked around. "I don't see Bulkhead's wrecking balls. Of course, that might just be because it would be difficult to utilize that sort of mod in any other frame type."

Silverbolt suddenly grabbed a mod and held it out to Prowl. "What?" Silverbolt tapped at a part of the mod. It took a moment for him to see what had caught Silverbolt's attention: Dried energon and loose wires. "I guess he takes mods even if he doesn't plan on using them." Which made it even creepier. Perhaps Prowl should be thankful his mods are so easily removed.

Something suddenly caught Silverbolt's attention, and he went deeper into the room. "Silverbolt, now is not the time to examine anything that catches your attention." Silverbolt didn't seem to hear Prowl as he stared at something just out of Prowl's sight. Sighing, Prowl went to see what had caught Silverbolt's attention. What he saw shocked him.

Set in a small, illuminated alcove was a helmet set on a stand. Unlike the other pieces Lockdown had, this one seemed to be in a place of honor…or at least a place that suggested Lockdown was especially proud/fond of it.

For several moments, Prowl didn't move. Then he grabbed the helmet without thinking, startling both of them. Silverbolt watched as Prowl brought it closer to his face. Silverbolt tilted his head. Did Prowl recognize the helmet? The coloration and design resembled Prowl's own. Was it a coincidence or did it belong to a relative?

Prowl suddenly hugged the helmet to his chest and started shaking. Silverbolt took a moment to remember that purely mechanical Cybertronians couldn't cry. Then he got a look at Prowl's face and realized how enraged the other look. Apparently, this helmet _had_ belonged to someone Prowl had known and cared about. Silverbolt reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him when there was no way for him to communicate his sentiments to Prowl.

Then the ship shook, knocking Prowl out of his reverie. The two exchanged looks as they realized that the ship was taking off. They were going to have to save this until later. Prowl slipped the helmet into his subspace, and the two took off. Silverbolt was at least able to glance in the rooms they ran by to check for Bulkhead. Prowl was too intent on reaching Lockdown to even think about looking for Bulkhead.

Prowl didn't slam the door open. His was a cold fury. Lockdown still noticed and turned to face him. "How the Pit did you two get out of the cell?"

"Did you kill Yoketron?" demanded Prowl. For once, Lockdown looked caught off guard. "Did you kill Yoketron?" repeated Prowl.

"Now, why would you care about that?" Lockdown gave Prowl a considering look. He suddenly smirked. "Wait. Are you that kid that Yoketron was training when I took that job? Tough luck."

Prowl's optics narrowed. A grappling line suddenly shot out from behind him and wrapped around Lockdown's arm. Lockdown reached for the line, but he'd already been yanked forward. Prowl ducked as Silverbolt jumped over him and collided with Lockdown and tackled him to the floor. Lockdown tried to get at him with the chainsaw, but Silverbolt grabbed the safe part and held it in place.

Prowl closed his optics. He focused his entire being on his goal. He banished all distractions from his mind. It wasn't enough. His anger and grief were still clouding him in a way he couldn't be bothered to describe. He promptly banished any and all emotions from his processor.

It was almost like his long stasis. He existed, but he had no being. The difference this time was that he had a goal that he refused to be distracted from. He felt the autopilot system and all its complexities…and switched it off.

The effort jolted Prowl back into being for a moment, his processor throbbing. He repeated the process, this time shoving aside the pain and exhaustion as well. This time, he had been focusing on the steering mechanism and forced it upwards, sending the ship careening downwards. This time Prowl pushed himself too far and slumped over, completely out of it.

As the ship screamed downward, Lockdown quickly realized something was wrong. He jerked his leg free and jammed his knee into Silverbolt's gut. Silverbolt was caught unaware enough that the air was painfully forced out of his lungs. Lockdown scrambled out from under him and over to the controls as he tried to correct the course of the ship. Silverbolt realized what Lockdown was doing and grabbed and tore out several of the control panel's components. Lockdown growled and lashed out with his hook. Silverbolt darted back and quickly made his way to Prowl. Prowl was holding his head but was still conscious. Silverbolt grabbed him and dashed out.

Silverbolt had noticed a door that smelled of fresh air. He was really hoping it was a way out. He dug his claws into the seam and wrenched as hard as he could. The door screeched as it was forced open. It certainly looked like an airlock. Silverbolt made sure Prowl was secure before wrenching the other door open. Yep, it was outside. Silverbolt transformed, carefully grabbed Prowl's arm with his teeth, and jumped out.

Okay, flying with an unconscious Autobot hanging from his mouth was harder than Silverbolt thought it would be. He was just barely able to glide downwards. He would've tried shaking Prowl awake, but he didn't want to risk it. As he watched, it looked like Lockhead's ship landed in the forest. If they were lucky, Lockdown wouldn't be coming back. Then Silverbolt focused on landing himself and Prowl.

They ended up landing in a suburb in front of some very confused humans. Silverbolt transformed and waved before signing a quick explanation. He didn't know if anyone here understood sign language, but he might as well make an effort to communicate. Then he picked up Prowl and started heading back for the base.

Back at the base:

Wheeljack and Flareup were now the only ones sitting outside the med bay. The Dinobots had gotten bored and run off. Sari had gone after them. Wreck-gar had had to go to work but had promised to bring Bumblebee some honey to help him get better.

The doors opened suddenly. Red Alert walked out covered in energon. Flareup recoiled a bit. Wheeljack was unbothered. "Is he…?"

"Bumblebee's alive." Wheeljack and Flareup let out twin sighs of relief. "He's going to need a lot of time to recover, but he should be able to regain the full range of movement." She paused, like she wanted to say something but changed her mind. "You can see him if you want, but we haven't had time to clean up." Red Alert went back into the med bay, Wheeljack and Flareup followed close behind.

The medical berths, Ratchet, Bumblebee, and the floor were covered in a mixture of energon and coolant. "So, how'd it go?" asked Wheeljack.

"We nearly lost him. Twice," said Ratchet. Bumblebee had been nearly decapitated. The only thing keeping his head on had been his spinal relay. Ratchet had had to immediately patch two of Bumblebee's main energon lines just to keep him alive. That while making sure Bumblebee didn't lose so much energon that his spark would go out. Even with that, Bumblebee's spark nearly had gone out _twice_. If Red Alert hadn't come running in when she had, it probably would have.

Then there was the overheating caused by the loss of coolant. Ice and water helped, but Bumblebee's core temperature had stayed dangerously high throughout the operation and was only now returning to normal levels. And what seemed like a thousand other damaged components had needed to be replaced or repaired.

If Bumblebee hadn't had a distress signal installed when he was a youngling…If Rratchet had been just been a few kliks slower… "He should be dead."

"Don't be silly," said Wheeljack. "There's no way he would die while you're here."

"Why does he have restraints?" asked Flareup, eyeing some restraints that were holding Bumblebee's upper body and head in place. They looked really uncomfortable to her.

"Bumblebee's still in emergency stasis," explained Ratchet. "It's dangerous to force a bot out of it in this state. I'll have to wait for him to come out on his own and then place him into a medical stasis. He'll probably be disoriented and confused, so I need to keep him immobilized so that he doesn't reopen the welds I performed. That could kill him."

Ratchet grabbed a cloth and started cleaning off Bumblebee. Wheeljack wordlessly picked up several more clothes and started cleaning up the various puddles of energon and coolant littering the med bay. Flareup joined in.

And that was when Silverbolt walked in with Prowl. He raised an eyebrow when he saw how much energon was all over the place. He held Prowl up.

"Hold on klik," said Red Alert. She quickly cleaned off the other medical berth. "Put him down." Silverbolt gently put Prowl on the medical berth. Prowl let out a pained groan. "What happened?" Silverbolt made several slow signs. "…What?"

"I think he signed something about a fight and Prowl falling," said Flareup.

"Looks like his vocalizer got knocked loose." Ratchet took a break cleaning, walked over, and snapped the vocalizer back into place.

Silverbolt rubbed his neck. "Thanks. I'm not sure what happened. I was fighting the bot we think did this. Prowl was standing off to the side. Then he just…collapsed."

Red Alert ran a scanner over Prowl. "Huh. Looks like a few minor energon lines in his processor ruptured. Nothing too serious. His self-repair systems sealed them off. He just has a migraine. I'll give a nanite injection to speed up his recovery."

Silverbolt nodded and turned to Ratchet. "How is Bumblebee?"

"He'll survive," said Ratchet. "But he's got a long road to recovery ahead of him."

"I don't think he will mind so long as he lives."

Much later:

Prowl stood outside the Dino clan's room. His head still hurt, and it was going to be difficult and awkward, but Prowl needed to do this. Prowl took a moment to steel his resolve and gather his strength before entering the room.

The Dinobots were already asleep. Silverbolt, in beast mode, lifted his head. Sari also jerked up before recognizing Prowl and frowning. "I need to talk to Sari." Sari stood up and gave him an expectant look. "Alone."

Sari crossed her arms. "Anything you can say to me, you can say to the rest of my family."

Prowl shook his head. "It's…personal."

Sari opened her moth to respond, but Silverbolt beat her to it. "Sari, you two have been at each other for months. This needs to end. Now."

Sari gave Silverbolt a pleading look. Silverbolt gave her a look that said he wasn't going to change his mind. Sari sighed as she acquiesced. "Fine. Where do you want to talk?"

"My room will work." That said, Prowl jumped through the hole in the corner of the room. Sari followed a second later. Prowl took a moment to place Yoketron's helmet on a small (By Cybertronian standards) table near the door of his room.

Sari eyed the unfamiliar helmet for a second before turning her attention to Prowl. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted…to apologize."

Sari blinked. "What?"

"For when I first found out Silverbolt was a Transformer and got angry at you for not telling anyone. I was so upset that you didn't share this information with me that I didn't think about why you felt you needed to keep it secret."

Sari crossed her arms. "And why do you think I kept it secret?"

"Because you were protecting him," said Prowl. "You didn't know how others would react to a techno-organic, and Silverbolt is the most important person in your life."

"Of course. He's my dad."

"He's more than that," continued Prowl. "He took you in when no one else would, when you needed someone the most, he was willing to go out of his way to help you and teach you how to survive and live, he gave you love when you thought there was no one who could possibly care for you. He's not just your father, he's your savior."

Sari seemed surprised by the conclusion Prowl had come to, but she couldn't deny it. "How did you know?"

Prowl's gaze wandered to the helmet. "Yoketron."

Sari's followed his gaze. "Your Silverbolt?" Prowl nodded. Sari studied the helmet. It looked somewhat similar to Prowl's, but what was it doing here if it wasn't his? "What happened?"

"I'm Well-born, created when the Allspark imbued a protoform with a spark…and I was created during the Great War."

"That long ago?" asked Sari. "You don't seem that old."

Prowl shrugged. "It was later in the war, but I was still expected to fight for the Autobots. Except I didn't want to fight and was angry that they expected me to so I ran the first chance I got."

Sari snorted with a grin. "You were a draft dodger?"

"Among…other things. I caused a lot of trouble."

"What sort of trouble?"

"Grafitti, stealing, throwing things at soldiers, anything to express how angry I was."

"So…you were a punk…" Sari eyed Prowl like it was the first time she'd seen him. "Anything else?"

"Nothing that will ever be said within the vicinity of the Dinobots," said Prowl. Really, he wasn't sure why he was telling Sari all of this. He'd just planned to apologize, but now he couldn't seem to stop talking. "If I had continued like that, I'm sure I would have gotten myself killed young with no one to mourn me. Yoketron saw someone worth saving though. He had a former student catch me and bring me to him. He kept me from escaping, taught me various forms of unarmed combat…He was the closest thing I ever had to a caring creator."

Sari glanced over at the helmet again. "He's gone, isn't he?"

"I came back one day, and he was dying in front of me. I tried to save him, and in doing so I think he became disappointed in me for the first and only time." And that had hurt Prowl even more than losing Yoketron.

Sari stared at Prowl, his head bowed and looking absolutely miserable. She honestly had no idea how to cheer him up. Could he even be cheered up? Sari didn't know how she would be able to deal with losing Silverbolt, but she knew how she'd taken losing her biological father. All she could think of was to share in his pain. "At least he cared about you. I'm not even sure my creator actually cared about me."

Prowl raised an optic ridge. Sari always referred to Silverbolt as her father, not her creator. "Not Silverbolt?"

"No, my creator was a human, very smart, very rich. He homeschooled me, fed me, made sure I had everything I needed, but…He was always so busy with work. He tried to make time with me, but he got so caught up with his projects. He even forgot to take care of himself. And he kept me inside as much as possible. He never took me outside, never let me hang out with kids my age, he never even took me to a doctor.

"Then he had a heart attack, and I found out I didn't exist."

"Of course you exist," said Prowl. "You're standing right in front of me."

Sari snorted. "Tell that to…the other guy. He told me I have no birth certificate, no social security number, no education records, no doctor records, my creator didn't even write a will! If you looked for me in a database, you wouldn't find anything. So he took everything that ever belonged to my creator and kicked me out."

"Don't humans have laws against that?"

"Only if your existence is documented. I don't think any authorities even knew I existed."

"No one was able to take you in?"

"I didn't know anyone!" shouted Sari. "And my creator was an only child and old enough that his parents were dead by then. I just wandered around, feeling sorry for myself and all around depressed, and I guess I wandered into the forest without realizing it."

"And then Silverbolt found you," finished Prowl.

Sari nodded. "It's kind of weird though. I don't remember how we ran into each other. My first memory of Dad was when I woke up in his cave when he was trying to get me to drink some water.

"Anyway, I was still depressed enough that I didn't care if I lived or not. Dad had to do everything for me until I snapped out of it. I can't even remember what brought me out of it. I just know that once I started to become more active, Dad would communicate with me by writing on the ground and try to cheer me up with funny stories or how my creator wouldn't want me to die and I'd be letting the guys who kicked me out win. So, I tried to move on with my life, and once Dad thought I was healthy enough, he started showing me how to survive in the wild.

"A couple of years later, I hurt my knee real bad and some of the skin got ripped off. There's was some circuitry underneath, and that was how we found out I was techno-organic. We figured out I was a Transformer after Dad described how to transform, and I managed to turn my hands into blasters." Sari chuckled humorlessly. "I guess that's why there weren't any normal records of me…because I was an experiment the whole time."

"I'm not so sure," said Prowl. "If that was the case, wouldn't the man who seized all your creator's belongings have kept you as well?"

Sari shrugged. "Well, I guess we'll never know. The only one who did know is long gone."

Prowl nodded. It was a shame. Her creator might be able to explain how she came to be. Prowl certainly couldn't come up with an explanation for Sari's existence. "What is it like? Being techno-organic?"

Sari blinked. "I'm not sure. I've always been techno-organic. I don't know what it's like to be purely mechanical or purely organic. I think it might vary from bot to bot. I'm the size of a human, but I'm ridiculously small for a Cybertronian. Dad's a normal size for a Cybertronian, but he's ridiculously big for a wolf or a bird, or really any land creature. Dad's got an awesome sense of smell. Mine's about as good as any humans. I'm a lot stronger than a normal human. I don't know if Dad's any stronger than a normal Cybertronian. Dad can fully transform. I've had to learn how to transform."

Prowl raised an optic ridge. "Learn to transform?"

Sari shrugged. "I didn't know I could transform until I was eight. If I can fully transform, I'm having to learn bit by bit. Dad says he had to figure out how to transform when he first became techno-organic, but I think he had an easier time with it than me because he had plenty of practice before then. All I could transform at first were my hand blasters. I got my tonfa after I got attacked by a bear. My face mask…" Sari chuckled.

"What?"

"It's just kind of funny looking back at it," explained Sari. "I got my facemask while I was swimming in the lake, and I was experimenting with how long I could hold my breath and found your ship."

Prowl stared at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I was so curious about what it was that I swam into it and started exploring. I think I accidentally opened the Allspark at one point."

"That would explain a few things," muttered Prowl, thinking of how the ship had repaired itself when Sari touched it.

Sari flexed her fingers a bit. She sometimes wondered if that had something to do with how the Dinobots had come to life. "Yeah…and then I saw you guys on my way out. I'd never seen a fully mechanical Cybertronian, and I wanted a closer look. All I did was touch the pod, and it started opening up."

Prowl gave her a surprised look. "You're the one that reactivated the stasis pods?"

"Not on purpose," said Sari. "If I'd known touching it would do that, I would've kept my distance."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't," said Prowl. "The stasis pods were supposed to let us out once the crash was over and we were out of danger. A short circuit prevented this, and we likely would still be down there if you hadn't let your curiosity get the best of you."

"And Starscream would've come anyway," added Sari. The two were silent for a few moments. "It's amazing isn't it? That all of us ended up in the right place at the right time."

"Yes, it is," agreed Prowl.

The two remained silent after that, simply staring up at the stars and moon, wondering at how everything had fallen into place so well without any outside help.

Med bay:

Ratchet grabbed Wheeljack's servo as he started tapping on the medical berth again. "Stop that."

"Sorry, just nervous," apologized Wheeljack. He turned to Ratchet. "How you holding up?"

Ratchet sighed. "I'll be doing better once Bumblebee comes out of stasis." It was eerie seeing Bumblebee so still for so long. As annoying as Bumblebee could be sometimes, Ratchet had gotten used to Bumblebee's antics. Ratchet performed yet another scan on Bumblebee.

Bumblebee's servo twitched.

Ratchet tensed and devoted all his attention to Bumblebee's face. After a moment, Bumblebee's optics started to twitch and open. "Bumblebee, if you can hear me, blink twice." Bumblebee slowly blinked twice. "You were injured very badly. You can't move until the welds and other injuries have been fully integrated. You shouldn't talk either."

Bumblebee blinked twice. He appeared confused. Ratchet guessed what he was thinking. "It's a neck injury, and it's traumatic enough that you may not remember what happened." Bumblebee blinked again, looking like he wanted to ask what had happened. "I'll tell you what happened later. For now, you can't move until your welds have been integrated or your risk reopening them. I'm going to put you into medical stasis to speed up the process until you've healed enough to move without that risk. Okay?" Bumblebee blinked another couple of times but didn't do anything that suggested he had a problem with Ratchet's plan.

As soon as Ratchet finished putting Bumblebee into medical stasis, Wheeljack let out a sigh of relief. "He seemed lucid."

"Yeah. I scanned his processor earlier, and it seemed to be functioning at full capacity," said Ratchet. "It wasn't damaged in the attack."

"That's good. Body control wouldn't have been the only thing affected," said Wheeljack. "What will we tell him about Bulkhead when he's brought out of stasis?"

Ratchet groaned and leaned on the berth. "I don't know. Whatever we tell him, he's not going to take it well."

"And I'm guessing it would hoping for too much to consider getting Bulkhead back before Bumblebee wakes up?'

"Bumblebee doesn't need to be in stasis for _that_ long," said Ratchet. "And yeah, it's doubtful that we'll find out anything about Bulkhead before Bumblebee can be brought out of stasis."

Wheeljack was silent. "I hope Bulkhead will be all right. The Decepticons aren't exactly gentle with their prisoners."

"If they want his skills, they'll need him in good health. That gives us time," said Ratchet.

Wheeljack nodded in agreement. "Well, I'm turning in. You coming?"

Ratchet turned to Bumblebee. "I'll stay here tonight in case there are any complications. We don't need any more close calls."

Wheeljack nodded in understanding and placed a servo on Ratchet's shoulder. "If you need to talk to anyone about it…"

"I'll let you know," promised Ratchet.

Wheeljack nodded, knowing that was the best he was going to get from Ratchet. He exited the medical bay, leaving Ratchet to watch over Bumblebee.

_And now Butterflies presents The Afterword._

"Do you want people to hate you?"

"No, of course not!"

"Then why do you keep doing terrible things to the characters?"

"Bad things happen during war! And not just to 'the bad guys'! So sue me if I'm trying to show that!"

Vector sighed and rubbed his nasal ridge. "There's something wrong with you…"

"Hey!"

"Even you think that!"

"…Let's just get on with the show…" muttered KHGiggle. She held up a human sized datapad. "As some of you figured out, the woman who kidnapped Wheeljack and Ironhide is Circuitbreaker. Fanatic97 pointed out that she's owned by Marvel comics, which would make this a crossover. I don't consider it a crossover since Marvel was in charge of the Transformers comics for a while. Plus she never showed up in the Marvel universe proper. What do you guys think? Either way, it's such a minor thing that I don't think I need to move it to the crossovers section."

Vector took over at that point. "And in this chapter we have Prowl discovering Lockdown killed Yoketron a season early…"

"I needed him and Sari to patch things up," explained KHGiggle. "And it's a recognizeable helmet. I don't think he's gonna wear it because he considers it sacred."

"Bumblebee was practically decapitated…" continued Vector.

"I didn't think Lockdown could get Bulkhead out of there silently, and he would not leave any witnesses."

"And Bulkhead got captured several episodes ahead of time."

"I thought Megatron would get impatient sooner than in canon since Prof. Sumdac wasn't around."

Vector gave KHGiggle a long stare. "Your mind is a dark and scary place."

"It worries me too." KHGiggle clapped her hands. "And not to suddenly change the subject, but I will be implementing a slight schedule change. Now that I have a regular, full-time job I will be updating on weekends. Whether it will be on Sunday or Saturday depends on what's going on. Shouldn't be too big a change."

"Just get back to writing the third season already."

"I can't help that I have writer's block!"

_This has been The Afterword._


	12. Painful Stereotypes

"I can't do anything."

Megatron narrowed his optics at Bulkhead. "Explain."

Bulkhead pointed at the schematics "We don't have all the parts for the space bridge. There's the obvious stuff in the parts of the blueprint you have, and there's some in the parts you didn't get. Some of them can be fabricated with what we have, but there are some parts that just aren't possible to get on Earth. Plus even if I tried building them, my servos aren't…what was the word Wheeljack used?"

"Delicate?" suggested Icy Blitzwing.

"Yeah, that. Fabricating parts is one thing I just can't do," continued Bulkhead.

"That's what the humans are for," said Oil Slick.

"Hey!" protested Masterson. He was promptly dragged back and sat on a couch by Cyclonus like a misbehaving child.

Megatron thought for a moment. "I believe that I can circumvent this problem." He turned to the computer and started putting in a familiar code. "Until then, fabricate what you can."

Bulkhead was disappointed. He'd been hoping that if he couldn't do anything, the Decepticons would abandon this idea.

"You should have pretended that we could do everything with what we had," whispered Raf. "That would've bought us some extra time."

That was a good point. Bulkhead shrugged apologetically. "I'm not good at planning."

Raf could only sigh. Bulkhead was nice, but wasn't too bright outside of space bridge information. It was kind of strange even with all the stuff that he'd been through in the past few months.

Autobot Base:

"All right, that's it for today," announced Kup.

Everyone blinked and looked up. The sun wasn't even that high yet. Several of them gave Kup a confused look. He rolled his optics. "At this point, your combat is passable. Now you work on other skills that will support yourself and others. For example, Prowl's got ninja training. This makes him good with stealth, definitely Special Ops material. Bulkhead would be a technician. I can't train you in most of this stuff, so you have to do this on your own."

"Can it be a skill unique to humans?" asked Flareup.

"…I guess." Flareup nodded and headed off.

"Ninja," said Snarl.

Prowl nodded in understanding. "I need to practice myself."

"Mind if I join you?" asked Sari. "I definitely can't just fight other Cybertronians head on."

The three headed off. This left the other Dinobots, Silverbolt, and Kup. Silverbolt turned to the other Dinobots. "What do the rest of you want to do?"

Grimlock grossed his arms. "Me Grimlock not need know anything but smashing!"

"That is not a good idea. You cannot solve every problem by attacking it. You would not just attack an injured friend, would you?"

"Oh!" Swoop suddenly ran off. Everyone stared off after him.

"Guess he's gonna see if he can be a medic," muttered Kup.

Silvrbolt nodded. "He has been spending a lot of time in the medical lab." He turned his attention to the other three Dinobots. "What about you? Is there anything you enjoy that you would like to learn more about?"

"Smash!" said Grimlock.

"Smash!" agreed Slag.

"Mud!" said Sludge.

Kup sighed. "This could take a while…"

In the city proper:

Rodimus grinned as he poured the cement and smoothed it over. "I think we're getting the hang of this."

Wasp blinked as he realized that he'd welded all the beams correctly. He sighed. "Some military career this is turning out to be."

"Look at it this way, we have another possible job if we ever have to quit the military," commented Rodimus.

"I'd rather deactivate," muttered Wasp

Rodimus raised an optic ridge. "That's kind of extreme, don't you think?"

"You kidding? Every other occupation is so…boring. Why would anybot ever willingly get one of those jobs?"

"Yeah, some of them are boring," admitted Rodimus. "But without them, life wouldn't be possible for the rest of us."

Wasp grunted but didn't argue.

Back at the base:

"I don't get it," deadpanned Sari.

"It's simple. You relax, close your eyes, and clear your mind," explained Prowl.

"How do you stop thinking?" asked Sari.

Prowl shrugged. "I said it was simple, not easy. It took me a while to get the hang of it myself." He thought for a moment. "You could try focusing on your breathing. Snarl, you can try listening to your fuel pump."

Snarl grunted and closed his optics. Sari put her hand on her chest for a moment before closing her eyes as well. Prowl couldn't stop a smile from flitting across his face before closing his own optics.

Falling into a meditative state was second-nature to Prowl. It only took a few seconds. Prowl continued to simply meditate for several minutes before deciding to try processor over matter again.

Prowl focused on a rock, trying to flip it. It didn't move. Prowl thought about any differences between now and then. He pushed away his emotions and all other distractions and simply focused on the rock. The rock was all there was. There was nothing else. Because there was nothing else, Prowl was intimately aware of every facet and imperfection in the rock.

The rock flipped. Prowl instantly felt dizzy. He blinked several times while he waited for the dizzy spell to pass. He didn't want to push himself too far this time. No wonder this skill was so hard to master. He closed his optics and started to fall back into a meditative state.

"Fuck!"

Prowl jumped slightly at Sari's cursing. "Sari, if you're getting frustrated, shouting is not going to help."

Sari blinked. "What? That's not-I picked up some Allspark energy, and it caught me by surprise." She stood up with a sigh. "I better tell somebody."

In the city proper, a few Allspark shards were blowing along in the wind. While most of the shards were too heavy for this, some shards were the size and weight of sand, and they were blown around continuously by the wind.

At least until they collided with and embedded themselves into a couple of pieces of construction machinery. They sunk into the metal, and the two machines spontaneously started up. They just sat there for a moment. Then the power scooper turned towards the cement mixer. "Uh…What just happened?"

The cement mixer somehow managed to shrug. "No idea."

The shovel looked around for anything unusual before realizing he had no idea what could be considered unusual. "What were we doing anyway?"

"Building stuff, same as always."

"Something feels weird though."

"Yeah, yeah, ya don't gotta tell me shovel breath."

"My name ain't shovel breath! It's…" The power shovel paused as he realized he didn't have a name and tried to think of something as quickly as he could to cover the blunder. A labeled pile of scrap caught his attention. "Scrap!"

"Nah, that's too short," said the cement mixer, not fooled. "How 'bout Scrapper?"

"That works too." The newly named Scrapper noticed something. "So, you Mixmaster?"

"Huh?"

"That's what your little nametag says."

"Nah, that's too long. Just call me Mix," said Mixmaster.

"'Kay," said Scrapper. They were quiet for a moment. "So what're we supposed to do now?"

"I dunno. Keep building stuff like we usually do I guess." Then Mixmaster started transforming.

"Holy smokes! You're building something out of yourself!"

Mixmaster finished transforming and stared at himself. Then Scrapper started transforming. "You're doing it too!"

When Scrapper finished transforming, the two stared at each other. Amusingly enough, the two looked like construction workers.

"How come we never did that before?" asked Scrapper.

Mixmaster shrugged. "Beats me."

Then a red sports car drove by, the driver completely uncaring of the fact two Transformers were right next to the road.

"Whoa! Look at the chassis on that car!"

"And those tight tailpipes!" They transformed and chased after the car. "Hey baby! Where you going?!"

The stereotypes…They hurt…

A little ways away…

"And they said they were gonna bring something called Twister, and I was thinking of showing them a game, but everything I can think of is either boring or dangerous for them. What do you think?" asked Hot Shot.

"Kid, they're organic and smaller than me," pointed out Brawn. "You're gonna have to stick with board games or videogames if you don't want to accidentally hurt them.

Hot Shot made a mildly annoyed sound. "All of my videogames are in Cybertronix, and I didn't bring any board games."

"Then ask around and see if anyone's got something you can use."

"_Sari says she's picking up some Allspark signals,"_ commed Kup. _"So keep an optic out for anything unusual."_

Just then the red sports car drove by with two cat calling construction vehicles close behind. Hot Shot and Brawn exchanged surprised looks before shrugging, transforming, and chasing after the wayward construction vehicles. _"Might have found something,"_ commed Brawn. _"Me an' Hot Shot will see if it's got anything to do with the spike."_

"_Why are they hitting on that sports car?"_ asked Hot Shot. _"It's got a nice form, but it's not sentient."_

"_Did you think the cars were just drones when you saw the footage of this planet for the first time?"_

"…_Point taken."_

As the road widened, the two Autobots pulled up beside the construction vehicles. It was hard to tell if anyone was inside since their carriages were high off the ground. "Anybody in there?" shouted Hot Shot. "You're being really rude!"

The sports car went through an intersection just as the light turned red. Since the two construction vehicles tried to run the red light, Brawn and Hot Shot had a valid reason to pull in front of them. "Hey! What's the big idea?!" shouted Mixmaster.

Brawn and Hot Shot transformed. "You gotta follow the traffic laws," explained Brawn. "No running red lights."

Mixmaster and Scrapper transformed and studied Brawn and Hot Shot. Well, at least they knew that they weren't the only ones that could do that. "What're you guys supposed to be?"

"We're Autobots," said Hot Shot, examining the construction vehicle bots. "Who're you?"

"Mixmaster."

"Scrapper."

"Where'd you come from?" asked Brawn. The two construction bots pointed towards the construction site they'd come from. "How long you been alive?"

"I dunno," said Scrapper. "Uh…A few minutes, maybe?"

Brawn nodded. "Right. You're gonna need to come with us."

The two construction bots exchanged looks before turning back to the Autobots. "Sure, why not?" said Mixmaster.

"_I think we found the results of that surge Sari felt,"_ commed Brawn. _"We're taking them back to base."_

"_Right, we'll be there to examine them,"_ replied Red Alert.

Decepticon base:

Oil Slick dropped some supplies next to barely constructed ground bridge. "Is Swindle going to be bringing raw material with him?"

"Possibly," said Megatron. "He's always eager to make a profit. Why? Is there a problem with your supplies?"

"Stealing from construction sites is fairly common, but the humans are starting to notice that an inordinate amount of material is going missing," explained Oil Slick. "I'm sure an investigation is underway, and I'm concerned that the Autobots may figure out the connection."

Megatron made a mildly annoyed sound. He didn't want the Autobots to discover any of his soldiers. While these Autobots were not nearly as skilled at fighting as Decepticons as the Autobots from the Great War, they did have the advantage of numbers, and at least one of them was willing to kill.

An even greater danger would be one of the Decepticons being tailed back to the base. Not only would it allow the Autobots to plan a full force attack, but they would likely try to sabotage or damage the space bridge.

Not that there was much to destroy. Megatron glared at the Autobot that was supposed to be building his space bridge. Bulkhead was completely unaffected, if he even noticed the glare. If Megatron didn't need an expert on the technology…

His console beeped, alerting Megatron to a message. Megatron frowned. He was always wary when he received a message he wasn't expecting. Either it was from an enemy or someone was about to give him unexpected news, usually bad. He answered the message, mentally going through plans in case it was someone who could be considered an enemy.

The screen came to life…Those weren't enemies. Megatron didn't even know who they were at first. Then he remembered Ravage. There weren't many Cybertronians with primary forms that resembled animals. He didn't recognize the white and blue femme next to Ravage, but he noted that she couldn't be any bigger than a typical human. Soundwave must have decided to build another assistant. She straightened and saluted. "Megatron, sir!"

"Who is that?" asked Oil Slick.

"Soundwave's assistants," explained Megatron. He turned back to the two assistants. "It is not yet time for him to report."

"Soundwave said this was really important and needed to be reported right away," explained Nancy.

"And where is Soundwave?"

Nancy glanced over to the side. "He was really busy and couldn't get away from his project because it is at a very important and sensitive stage."

"And what was important enough that he felt it couldn't wait?"

"Ravage was out watching the Autobots, and two construction vehicles spontaneously came to life." Nancy paused. "And then they chased a sports car for a few blocks before running into Brawn and Hot Shot…I don't know why they were chasing a sports car."

Megatron nodded, but wasn't too concerned. So far, every bot brought online on Earth except for Soundwave had been positively child-like. "Describe them."

Ravage growled. "Their vehicle modes are a cement mixer and a power scooper," translated Nancy. Ravage made some more sounds. "Their robot modes look a lot like human construction workers." Ravage made an annoyed sound. "And from what Ravage has seen, they're rather crass."

Megatron raised an optic ridge. "Crass how?"

Ravage made a low growl. "Ravage says they were using crass pick-up lines and cat calls…I don't know what that means."

"Don't worry about it," said Megatron. Apparently Soundwave's creations could be rather child-like as well. "The information is appreciated. Should your assistance be needed, you will be contacted."

"Okay." The image disappeared.

"Gonna try to recruit them?" asked Oil Slick.

"They're with the Autobots right now," said Megatron. "Unless they prove to have useful skills, I see no reason to approach them."

"But we'll keep an optic on them anyway," interrupted Oil Slick.

"Of course."

Oil Slick shrugged. "Better than sneaking around, pilfering building materials. Come on Cyclonus."

Cyclonus glanced at the humans one last time before following Oil Slick out.

"Why does that guy always stare at you?" asked Bulkhead.

"We're not sure," admitted Raf.

"I think it's because we're so small," said Penelope. "It sounds like most species are as big as Cybertronians. Sort of like how humans think bunnies and hamsters are cute."

"That doesn't sound like a Decepticon," commented Bulkhead.

"They can't all be like…that," said Dr. White. "I mean, has every Autobot been friendly and affable?"

"Uh…" Bulkhead thought about Sentinel Prime. "No, I guess not."

Back at Autobot base:

"Bodyguards, seriously?" asked Flareup.

Silverbolt shrugged. "It will do until they decide on something else. They have plenty of time."

Flareup nodded. "That's true. What did you choose?"

"Tactics."

"That makes sense. No offense, but you seem to get injured more easily than the rest of us."

"None taken." One of the downsides of being techno-organic was that Silverbolt's body wasn't as tough as a normal bot. He'd come to accept it.

"How do you feel about Swoop being a medic?" asked Flareup.

"He enjoys being in the med bay and is interested in the procedures. I think it could work."

"What about Snarl and Sari trying to be ninjas?"

"I was not surprised by Snarl. He continued to show an interest in Prowl's lessons even after his siblings moved on to other activities. Sari was surprising, but I am happy she and Prowl have forgiven each other."

Flareup nodded in agreement as she read a passage in her datapad. "Yeah, I was worried what would happen if those two had to work together."

Silverbolt tilted his head. "What have you chosen to study?"

Flareup paused. "I wanted to be an enforcer." Silverbolt nodded. "So I learned all about investigative techniques and forensics when I was going through training and repairing space bridges, but now…"

"Now?"

"I want to give archaeology a try," admitted Flareup.

Silverbolt blinked. "I'm not sure how you would use that when you returned to Cybertron."

"Me neither, but there's something…interesting about it. I love solving mysteries. It's why I wanted to become an enforcer. Archaeologists solve mysteries older than they are, despite the fact that there are no living witnesses, no forensic evidence, and no records of related events. Am I making sense?"

Silverbolt nodded. "You like mysteries, and you like to be challenged."

Flareup nodded. "Yeah, exactly." Flareup looked at Silverbolt curiously. "What did you want to be?"

Silverbolt started. "What?"

"When you lived on Cybertron," explained Flareup. "You couldn't have planned to live on Earth."

"…I minored in history and negotiation tactics."

Flareup brightened at actually getting some information from Silverbolt. "That's cool, but what did you want to be?"

Silverbolt stared at Flareup, as if he didn't know how to respond to that. "I-"

"Wow, this place is a dump!"

The two jumped and turned to see Brawn, Hot Shot, and two bots they didn't recognize. Presumably one of them had made the comment about the building. "We haven't had much time to fix it up with everything going on," explained Flareup.

That caught the construction bots' attention, just not for the reason Flareup wanted. "Hey, you didn't say you had dames!" said Mixmaster.

Flareup frowned and raised an optic ridge. "Dame?"

Everything that could be considered male started sending signals to the construction bots that they were treading on dangerous ground. The construction bots missed them entirely. "I think I could like it here if there's more of her," said Scrapper.

"No kidding," agreed Mixmaster.

Flareup narrowed her optics. "What do you think I am?"

The construction bots exchanged looks and shrugged. "Eye candy?" suggested Scrapper.

"Maybe somebody's girl," added Mixmaster.

For the record, while Cybertronians don't normally have genders, Flareup was as close to a feminist as a Cybertronian could be, and she did not appreciate what the construction bots were insinuating. "I am not here just to look pretty!" She vaulted over the couch and attacked the two construction bots. Silverbolt facepalmed. Hot Shot winced and looked away. Brawn rolled his optics at the construction bots' stupidity.

And this is what the rest of Rodimus's team was greeted with when they arrived. Rodimus's optics widened. "What are you doing?!"

Flareup was currently trying to rip off Scrapper's arm so she could hit Mixmaster with it. "What's it look like?!"

Brawn crossed his arms. "They were acting sexist." Yes, Cybertronians have that sort of problem. It's a very complicated subject.

"She does have a temper," commented Ironhide.

Rodimus grabbed Flareup and dragged her away from the construction bots. "Stop that! We don't attack civilians!" Flareup continued to glare at the construction bots. Maybe it had just been her imagination, but it seemed like they'd enjoyed being beaten up. It was incredibly annoying. Rodimus looked around her. "Sorry about that. If you've been injured, the med bay's right down that hallway on the left."

"Right got it." The two construction bots headed down the hallway.

Rodimus let go of Flareup and gave her a disbelieving look. "Why would you attack two Neutrals?"

"They were being chauvinistic!"

"They were just brought online," Rodimus reminded her, misunderstanding why she was so upset. "It's normal for them to make mistakes."

"The Dinobots make mistakes," started Flareup. "Wreck-gar makes mistakes. These guys are complete afts!"

"Does this mean the kids can't come over?" asked Hot Shot.

"That's all you got from that?" asked Brawn.

"They were looking forward to it!"

The construction bots headed for the infirmary. Ratchet was still watching Bumblebee like he expected him to start coughing up energon. Red Alert was off to the side, explaining how certain tools worked to Swoop.

Of course, the construction bots zeroed in on Red Alert. "Wow, hot nurses; this place has everything!" said Scrapper.

"I could get used to this," agreed Mixmaster.

Red Alert frowned at the attitude. She hated patients who tried to hit on her. She glanced at Ratchet. He wasn't looking up from Bumblebee. Red Alert sighed. "Sit down." The construction bots obeyed. "What did you do?"

"This hot little number attacked us," explained Mixmaster.

"Not sure why, but it was still fun," admitted Scrapper. "Think she'll do that again?"

Red Alert was pretty sure they were talking about Flareup. "You probably shouldn't antagonize her. She's prone to making things explode when she's upset." She pulled off some dented pieces of armor and handed them to Swoop. "See if you can beat those dents out."

Swoop nodded and started hitting the pieces of armor with a hammer. Red Alert turned her attention to the construction bots. She wasn't going to enjoy this.

The construction bots kept flirting with her the whole time. Red Alert understood completely why Flareup attacked them. She couldn't send them on their way fast enough. Once she was done with them, she turned her attention to Ratchet. "Please tell me you'll repair them next time they come in here." Ratchet grunted. Red Alert hoped that meant that he would.

Swoop tilted his head. "Swoop confused. Why medic lady upset?"

"They were being very rude," explained Red Alert.

"Why?"

Red Alert groaned. How to explain sexual harassment to what was essentially a sparkling?

The construction bots decided to return to the living room, hoping to see Flareup, but she'd left, possibly to avoid the construction bots.

Hot Shot had decided to go ahead and bring the kids to the base since they'd been asking after Bumblebee. He'd just been putting off taking them to the med bay since the construction bots were there and he wasn't sure how Ratchet would take it. Rad was trying to talk Wasp and Ironhide into playing Twister with Hot Shot. Carlos was lounging against Silverbolt in his beast mode. Alexis was talking to Sari about something. Prowl was looking for a nature program.

"Aw, you guys didn't say you had pets," said Scrapper. This made everyone in the room give him a confused look. Then he snatched up Rad with absolutely no warning. Rad let out a surprised and scared sound.

In an uncharacteristic move, Hot Shot grabbed Scrapper's wrist and twisted until Scrapper let go and Rad was dropped into Hot Shot's servo. Hot Shot immediately ran to the other side of the room. "You okay?" whispered Hot Shot. Rad nodded with a shell shocked look on his face.

"Ow…" Scrapper rubbed his wrist.

"What's the big idea?" demanded Mixmaster.

"You don't just grab a kid!" shouted Sari. "What were you thinking?!"

"Wow, that one's got a temper," Scrapper stage whispered to Mixmaster.

Sensing that Sari was liable to attack someone, Prowl decided to step in. "What Sari means is that humans are intelligent and the dominant life form on this planet. We need to treat them with respect."

"Why?"

Wasp stood up and moved out of the room. _"Let me know when the carnage is over."_

"_Sure thing."_ Personally, Ironhide wanted to see how badly the construction bots got beat up this time.

However, that spectacle had to be put on hold when Rodimus ran in. Someone must have alerted him to the budding fight. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Everyone calm down! What the problem?"

"Scrapper grabbed Rad without his permission," explained Prowl.

"Oh…yeah, you can't do that," said Rodimus. "Humans are fragile and can be hurt badly if you hold them too tightly or drop them. The only time you can grab them without asking first is in an emergency where their life depends on it."

"Okay, okay, fine…" muttered Scrapper

"And maybe you should go to another room until the kids leave," continued Rodimus. "They seem a little uncomfortable around you." He'd noticed how frightened Rad looked and how indignant Alexis looked. Carlos seemed content to stay in Silverbolt's fur but was watching the construction bots like a hawk.

"All right, all right…" The construction bots quickly left and conversed on the problems with the base's structure while they wandered around. For some odd reason, they didn't run into any other bots while they were walking around until they came to a metal door.

Most of the rooms were open. This one was bolted shut with a red light above it. Most would be cautious upon seeing something like that. Mixmaster decided to see what was inside and melted the lock with some acid.

The reason the door was reinforced was because this was the room claimed by Wheeljack as his workshop. So far, most of the explosions had been pretty small, but they weren't taking any chances. Not being familiar with Wheeljack's propensity for explosions, the two went right up to him as he was welding a device they couldn't identify. "What's that?" asked Scrapper.

Unfortunately, Wheeljack had been in the zone and hadn't noticed them. He jumped and the welding torch went right over an energon line.

***FWABOOM!***

The explosion was seen from Detroit proper. Rodimus immediately had to start reassuring several officials that it was nothing serious and that they would be taking care of the damages. Hot Shot had to take his friends home early. The rest of the bots had to dig out Wheeljack, Mixmaster, Scrapper, and Wheeljack's arms.

Red Alert immediately set to work reattaching Wheeljack's arms, among other repairs. Ratchet repaired Mixmaster and Scrapper while giving them a 'grumpy old man' lecture. "What were you thinking?! When you see a reinforced door, there's a reason it's been reinforced, and it's not so you can try to break in! And didn't you see the hazard light?! Even if you don't know it's a hazard light, you should know that if a light is on, that someone is busy and is not to be disturbed! And what possessed you to try and sneak up on Wheeljack?! Didn't you see the blast marks on the wall?! There's a reason we needed to reinforce that room! And even if it wasn't Wheeljack, you don't surprise a bot with a welding torch unless you want them to cut off a digit! Only an idiot does that sort of thing! What is wrong with you two?!" And this continued the whole time Ratchet was working on them, along with several hits to the head with whatever tool Ratchet happened to be using when he felt they deserved a good whack.

Once Ratchet was sure that the two were repaired, he marched them back to what remained of Wheeljack's lab and demanded they clean the area and fix it up.

The construction bots were now terrified of Ratchet. They certainly didn't want to piss him off again so they got to work. They'd never actually built anything without human operators, but they had an instinctive understanding of what to do. Before midnight had even rolled around, they'd finished repairing the damage the explosion had caused and further reinforced Wheeljack's lab so that it wouldn't be completely destroyed next time there was an accident. Their work was actually very good.

Now that they were in the mood, they noticed a hole in the roof that they decided to fix, but they woke up Prowl.

Prowl apologized for throwing shuriken at them and explained that he chose the room because of the hole and the tree growing out of it.

Deciding that it might be a good idea to fix a different building, they moved to a nearby warehouse that quite obviously needed some reinforcing. Then they moved onto the next building.

While they may be rude and young, the construction bots were proving to be very good at repairing structures. They enjoyed it too, and if there was one thing Detroit had going for it, there were a lot of damaged buildings and materials lying around to use.

They were patching up a particularly nasty hole in the side of an office building when a driverless motorcycle pulled up in front of it and just started watching them. Mixmaster and Scrapper did notice it, but they didn't think anything of it. They didn't know enough about Earth to think that was particularly unusual. They didn't even bat an optic when the motorcycle transformed into a robot. "You've made a lot of repairs in a short amount of time. Will it hold?"

"Yeah," said Mixmaster. "We're professionals."

"Is that so? You looking a job?" asked Oil Slick

"We're doing a job now," pointed out Scrapper.

"I mean a job you'll get paid for," explained Oil Slick.

Mixmaster and Scrapper paused and exchanged looks. They were going to need some sort of currency at some point, and it couldn't get much better than to get paid to do something they found fun. "Sure, we'll help you out," said Mixmaster.

Oil Slick smirked. "Excellent. Right this way." Oil Slick transformed and started heading back towards the base. _"Cyclonus, I have the two construction bots. Make sure no Autobots try to cut us off or follow us."_

"_Understood."_ The Autobots all seemed to be in their base. Cyclonus continued to observe the base and kept an optic out for anything that might cause them trouble. They reached the entrance to the mines without incident.

Oil Slick held up a servo to stop the construction bots. Cyclonus landed a moment later, surprising the two of them. "Whoa! Where'd you come from?"

Oil Slick pointed up. "Cyclonus is one of our air support units," explained Oil Slick. "Not the most talkative mech, but he's good at what he does."

The four trekked through the tunnels for a few minutes before coming out in the caverns being used. Megatron was waiting for them. "Welcome to the Decepticon base," greeted Megatron.

"Hear you got some work for us," said Mixmaster.

Megatron nodded. "Yes, it will be easier to explain if I show you what we are working on." Megatron turned and started walking towards the central cavern. Oil Slick and Cyclonus obediently followed. Mixmaster and Scrapper caught on after a moment.

"So, these natural or artificial?" asked Scrapper, eyeing some stalagmites.

"Artificial. They are leftover from a mining enterprise."

"Makes sense. You're gonna need a lot of fixing up to make it suitable for long term living," said Mixmaster.

"Our stay here is only temporary," explained Megatron. "We will be leaving as soon as the construction is complete."

"Right, so where is this project of yours?" asked Mixmaster.

Megatron gestured towards the space bridge. It still was only a partially constructed skeleton with pieces of equipment and material around it with the incomplete blueprints on a nearby wall. Bulkhead gave the two a surprised look from where he'd accidentally smashed something that might have been important.

It had really been an accident. He'd tripped on the uneven floor. As Bulkhead and the human scientists were quite certain it could be put back together, Megatron had decided not to slag Bulkhead…yet.

Speaking of the scientists…

"Hey, these guys have pets too," said Scrapper, pointing at the humans. The scientists were visibly insulted by this.

"Wow, this thing's a mess," commented Mixmaster. "What'd you do?"

Bulkhead sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I, uh, tripped."

Mixmaster and Scrapper didn't find this as ridiculous as the rest of the cave's occupants. Instead they started looking over the various aspects of the construction and making comments about any mistakes that would need to be corrected and how to fill in the parts that were missing.

Well, there went Dr. White's idea of building it incorrectly. The construction bots would catch that and correct it. Time for Plan E.

The construction bots got to building what they could. Megatron eyed them for a klik or two before turning to Strika. "Can you train them?"

"Before or after they finish the space bridge?"

"After. I want the space bridge finished as soon as possible."

Strika studied them for a moment. "I can work with them."

Icy Blitzwing raised an optical ridge. "We won't be getting rid of them once we're done?"

"Most of the buildings in New Kaon are in need of extensive repairs," explained Megatron. "We need someone with architectural skills to make the buildings livable."

"Ah yes…" It had been several vorns since he'd been in New Kaon, but Blitzwing couldn't remember any building that didn't need some sort of repair…including Megatron's residence. "I see your point…"

Autobot base, morning:

"Can anybody find the construction bots?" muttered Rodimus.

"Silverbolt's tracking them by scent, but you know how iffy that is," said Kup. "Flareup's looking through the internet, and she said there were some videos, but she's using some sort of home video site so it's not very accurate. It looks like they wandered back into the city and were fixing buildings at some point."

"And now they've disappeared?" asked Rodimus.

Kup shrugged. "Eh, they're young. Look at Wreck-gar."

Wreckgar suddenly ran by with a large sheet tied around his neck. "I am Wreck-gar! I dare to be stupid!"

The two stared after Wreck-gar as he ran off to work instead of driving like he normally did. "Okay…Maybe not Wreck-gar," admitted Kup. "But they're still new, even if they don't act it. They need to learn to make their own choices, even if those choices aren't the best."

"And that doesn't worry you?" asked Rodimus.

Kup shrugged. "I don't see how they can get into any serious trouble."

Rodimus gave Kup a look of disbelief. "Are you serious?!"

"What? They've got useful skills so even if they somehow run across a Decepticon, they wouldn't be slagged."

Rodimus threw up his servos and stormed away. Kup shook his head. "Kid's gotta learn how to deal with younglings."

Med bay:

Ratchet did a very in depth scan of Bumblebee. The supporting structures and welds seemed to have been integrated, and he was quite certain that Bumblebee's head wouldn't fall off when he moved around.

Time to bring Bumblebee out of stasis.

It took a moment for Bumblbee's systems to completely reboot. He opened his optics and rubbed at his helm, making a pained sound. Ratchet held a light up to an optic to see how it reacted. "How're you feeling?" Bumblebee was silent. "You had a close call there. Someone attacked you in your room." Ratchet figured it would be better for now if Bumblebee didn't know Lockdown had nearly decapitated him. "Had to put you into a medically induced stasis to make sure you were able to heal properly, but you should be able to move without any problems now."

Bumblebee's servo went to his neck and rubbed it before he opened his mouth to ask what had happened, only for nothing to come out of his mouth. Confused, he tried again. Still nothing. Bumblebee tried his com link, but that didn't seem to be working either. Bumblebee gave Ratchet a scared look.

Ratchet felt his spark sink. "Bumblebee…The damage was too much. I couldn't repair your vocalizer." Bumblebee's looked shocked. Then his expression slowly turned to despair. "Oh Bee…" Ratchet enveloped Bumblebee in a hug. He could feel Bumblebee shaking, probably sobbing. Ratchet didn't feel much better. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

_And now Butterflies presents The Afterword._

"I had horrible writer's block while writing this chapter," said KHGiggle. "I think it's because while I find the Constructicons amusing, I don't like the comments they make…Or how they hurt Bulkhead in canon."

"You made Bumblebee mute," deadpanned Vector.

"It seems to be a thing. Bayverse Bumblebee was mute and had to use the radio. Prime Bumblebee communicated entirely with beeps and clicks until the last episode. G1 Bumblebee…okay he talked normally, but they were just getting started. Sparkplug-"

"The human?"

"No, the Minicon from Armada. I know he wasn't actually a Bumblebee, but there was a certain resemblance."

"Actually, that was a Bumblebee. He was a Minicon in that universe," explained Vector.

"What? Really? Then why did they call him Sparkplug instead of Bumblebee?" asked a very confused KHGiggle.

"No Bumblebees on Cybertron."

"I meant the people who made the show in my universe," corrected KHGiggle. "They gave a bunch of Minicons names that belonged to full sized G1 characters. Why was Bumblebee the exception?"

"Oh. No idea. They called Ratchet Red Alert though so-"

"Wait what? I thought that was just his Japanese name. He doesn't look like any Ratchet I've ever seen."

"That was Red Alert they used. He and Ratchet were both present, but the people who made the show only used Red Alert and gave him Ratchet's job for some reason."

"Wait. I think I actually know why they did stuff like that," said KHGiggle. "They don't want to have so many characters that they can't have a cohesive plot and character development. Plus they want to be able to add characters as new toys come out. I'm not sure if new characters come first or new toys do."

"…I'll never understand businesses," muttered Vector. "Making things overly complicated or overly simplified so they can earn extra currency."

"Yeah, me neither," agreed KHGiggle. "What were we talking about?"

"Bumblebee's unfortunate tendency to go mute."

"Oh right. Anyway, I know that characters with plenty of experience with minicons were able to understand Sparkplug, but the audience sure couldn't so I say that counts."

"And the fact that Animated Bumblebee is shown to be a bot that enjoys talking nonstop?"

"Don't worry. I've got a plan for him to get around that."

"Now that the main topic has been breached, I would like to bring up an additional point," said Vector. "You may notice that Ratchet seemed to be repeating himself when he was explaining what happened to Bumblebee. This is because bots sometimes suffer from memory loss when they come out of emergency stasis, especially if they are immediately put back into stasis."

"Oh, and Fanatic97 says that Marvel copyrighted Circuit Breaker by including her in a panel of the Secret Wars event," said KHGiggle, somehow managing to pout despite wearing a gasmask. "That's so unfair! They never even used her! She would be a great Transformers villain if Hasbro could use her! Just look at the Age of Extinction movie. She would've fit in great with the Cemetery Wind people, especially if she was injured in Chicago."

"Apparently Hasbro tried to make do by making the IDW Spike Witwicky into a similar character by the name of Circuit Smasher," continued Vector. "…We are not impressed."

_This has been the Afterword._


	13. Silence

"That should be everything," said Swindle, going through the list on his datapad. "But perhaps I can interest you in-"

"No." Megatron did not want to listen to Swindle's sales pitch. It was, more often than not, annoying. "You have served your purpose. Now leave."

Swindle nodded, completely unbothered. "Of course, but should you change your mind, I will be staying on the planet for the next few solar cycles." Swindle grinned. "As always, it has been a pleasure doing business with you. So next time you find yourself in need of a particular item, do not hesitate to call Swindle." And with that, Swindle left to find all sorts of ways to exploit this new planet and civilization.

"Does anyone have something that we can use as a forge?" asked Mixmaster. "We need to melt this metal down."

"Oh, and molds!" added Scrapper. "Ya think the rock around here will work?"

Mixmaster knocked on the rock a couple of times. "Yeah, this stuff should be tough enough."

"What do you think Bulky?" asked Scrapper.

Bulkhead blinked. "Huh?"

"Think the rocks will work for molds?" asked Scrapper.

"Oh, yeah. Do you know how to make molds?" asked Bulkhead.

"Sure, it's real easy," said Scrapper.

Bulkhead nodded and turned back to what he was doing. The control panel needed to be programmed and put together.

It was Bulkhead's last shot.

Autobot base:

"Why we practice outside?" asked Swoop.

"Field medics don't always get the luxury of working inside," explained Red Alert. "And Bumblebee's still holed up in the med bay. I don't want to disturb him in his current state."

"Why Bee so upset?" asked Swoop.

"His vocalizer was destroyed," explained Red Alert. "It's a normal reaction."

"Why Ratchet and Red Alert not make new one?" asked Swoop.

Red Alert paused. "We would, but that's not possible."

"Why?"

"Most damaged parts can be replaced by completely new parts that engineers and medics fabricate, but there are a few parts that can't be replaced," explained Red Alert. "The most obvious is the processor, since it responsible for all our higher functions, including our memories, problem solving skills, and personality to a degree. Replacing the processor would be the same as killing and replacing a bot with a body double. Other less obvious parts that are irreplaceable are optics, vocalizers, and T-cogs. The reason these parts can't be replaced is because they have a microstructure on a near subatomic level. It's just not possible to replicate such a complex structure accurately enough to produce viable replacements."

Swoop didn't quite understand all of the explanation, but it sounded like some of the stuff on a vocalizer was too small to make by yourself. There was still one thing bothering him though. "Transplant?"

"These parts start to break down as soon as a bot deactivates. You'd have to take the part from a still living bot for it to be a viable transplant," explained Red Alert. "That's more difficult than it sounds because it is nearly impossible to predict when a bot will die. Usually the deaths are accidental or a homicide, in which case there isn't enough warning to remove any transplantable parts. In addition, medics are usually more focused on saving lives than finding transplantable parts right up to the point a patient deactivates. Most bots don't like the idea of having parts that belonged to another bot inside their body anyway. Instead, they just have a special type of visor installed or stick to specialized communication programs or use other methods of transportation."

"Oh. That sad," said Swoop.

Red Alert nodded. "Yes. It is."

Inside the base, Ratchet stood outside the medbay. He raised a servo to knock at the door, but stopped and dropped his servo with a sigh.

"Ratchet?"

Ratchet turned to look at Silverbolt. "Yeah?"

Silverbolt looked nervous for a moment before straightening. "Could Bumblebee use my vocalizer?"

Ratchet's optics widened in surprise. "What?"

"I was not able to talk for over a thousand years. I thought I would never talk again. I…would be able to adjust more easily than Bumblebee."

Ratchet did consider it for a moment. Then he shook his head. "I am not confident enough to perform that level of surgery on you. Besides, if your vocalizer has any organic components, it won't be compatible with Bumblebee's systems."

Silverbolt nodded. He felt somewhat relieved to hear that, but also incredibly guilty.

"But maybe you can still help Bumblebee," mused Ratchet.

Inside the med bay, Bumblebee was curled up on one of the medical berths, his head on his knees. He wasn't moving at all. It was painfully out of character for him.

The door suddenly opened and Silverbolt walked in. He made a considering sound when he saw Bumblebee. Silverbolt took a moment to go through the various supplies until he found a datapad. It had some scratches, but would work. Silverbolt walked over to Bumblebee and put a hand on his shoulder. "Bumblebee, may we converse?"

Bumblebee lifted up his head to give Silverbolt a glare. Silverbolt held the datapad out to him. Bumblebee took the datapad, typed something on it, and shoved it back at Silverbolt before returning to his former position. Silverbolt looked at what Bumblebee had typed. 'I don't want to talk to you.'

"All right. What about one of the other bots on base?" asked Silverbolt. Bumblebee shook his head. "Bumblebee, everyone is becoming worried about you. You have not left the medical bay in a week. This is not healthy." Bumblebee didn't move. Silverbolt sat next to him. "Bumblebee…I'm probably the one who best understands what you're going through right now. So please…let me help you."

Bumblebee sat up and glared. It weakened when he remembered that Silverbolt had been mute for a long time, but he was still glaring. Silverbolt matched Bumblebee's gaze without so much as flinching.

How was Bumblebee supposed to explain how powerless he felt? He'd spent most of his life being ignored, and the only way he could make it feel like he was real and alive was to talk and hear his voice.

Instead, Bumblebee decided to settle on something that had him just as upset. 'Bulkhead's _gone_.'

Silverbolt nodded. "We'll get him back."

'But Ratchet never told me! I only found out when I asked Flareup why Bulkhead hadn't come to see me.'

"Oh, I suppose that would be upsetting," muttered Silverbolt. "I'm not Ratchet so I can't say for sure why he did that. But if it was after the surgery was complete, you were still in a very bad state. Perhaps he was worried that you would hurt yourself if you knew about Bulkhead's abduction."

'He still should've told me.'

"I'm not condoning what Ratchet did, but being a parent is very difficult, especially when you never planned to be a parent." Silverbolt could speak from experience. "And when you've seen your child so close to death…" Silverbolt trailed off. "It's terrifying. You'd do anything to keep it from happening again."

Bumblebee gave Silverbolt a weird look before typing something down and handing the datapad back. 'Are we still talking about Ratchet?'

Silverbolt chuckled sadly. "I suppose all parents are like this. What I'm trying to say is that we're not perfect. We make mistakes. Please don't hold it against Ratchet for trying to protect you."

Bumblebee just sat there for a moment. 'What are we going to do about Bulkhead?'

"From what I understand, Bulkhead was abducted for his ability with space bridges," mused Silverbolt. "The Decepticons will want to keep him alive at least until they are able to construct a functioning space bridge. I would keep him longer in case anything went wrong. And Prowl and I did not see his modification on Lockdown's vessel so his body is likely whole."

'Can't we find him?'

"Everyone has been looking since he was abducted," said Silverbolt. "But he's likely in the Decepticons' base, and they have done a good job of hiding it."

Bumblebee was silent for several minutes. 'I can't talk.'

Silverbolt put a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder. "You're a strong bot. You'll be able to adjust. I know it."

Bumblebee rubbed at his neck. Ratchet had left the damaged vocalizer in place but had offered to remove it if Bumblebee wanted. Bumblebee wasn't sure what he wanted. He didn't want his vocalizer removed even if it was useless…But it felt so weird. It didn't hurt or anything. It just…felt like something was lodged in his intake. 'Are Wasp or Ironhide here?'

"They're looking for Bulkhead. The ones on base are myself, Sari, the Dinobots, Red Alert, Wheeljack, and Ratchet." Bumblebee winced. Silverbolt caught it. "Ratchet feels guilty about what is happening. I think it reminds him of something that happened during the war."

'I'm not sure I'm ready to talk to him.'

Silverbolt suspected the feeling was mutual. "Why don't we make a deal? When you feel ready to leave the medical bay I'll show you some sign language." Bumblebee raise an optic ridge. "I know Ratchet installed a…texting function before he brought you back online, but that will only work if both parties can use internal communicators. A datapad or writing utensil may not always be available when you need it."

Bumblebee thought about it. That was a good point. 'Okay…"

Silverbolt smiled and nodded. "Good. I will leave you. I hope you're feeling better next time we meet." He left the med bay.

Bumblebee sat there for a moment. He glanced at his datapad then at the door out of the med bay. His shoulders heaved in a silent sigh. He hated this.

Forest:

Flareup jumped over a log. "Do you really think the Decepticons would be hiding out in the forest?"

Prowl shook his head. "Considering what Silverbolt's told us about the forest and general Cybertronian views, it's doubtful. The entrance to their base may be nearby though, in which case I might be able to find some sort of clue."

"If the forest is as alive as Silverbolt says, do you think we could ask it to show us where the Decepticons are?" asked Flareup.

"You can give it a try if you want to, but I don't see how it would work."

"Hey, Mr. Forest! Or Mrs. Forest! Can you give us some sort of clue about where the Decepticons are?!" shouted Flareup.

"Right idea, wrong language."

Prowl jumped and threw a shuriken at the speaker. Coyote was noticeably ticked off. "You threw a shuriken at me!"

"My apologies. We're all rather high strung because a friend of ours was abducted and another nearly killed and rendered mute," apologized Prowl. "The one who did this has yet to be found."

"I know. He's still wandering around here," said Coyote. "You're lucky I like Silverbolt."

"What did you mean by right idea, wrong language?" asked Flareup. "Should I try asking in the local Native American dialect?"

"No, no, no, sheesh, you guys take things way too literally," muttered Coyote. "The forest does not communicate with a spoken language. You gotta think with it."

Flareup raised an optic ridge. "Huh? How's that work?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like. You gotta think with it."

"…Can't you tell us where they are?" asked Flareup.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you threw a shuriken at me," said Coyote, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Prowl groaned. "That was an accident."

"Don't care. You should know better." Coyote disappeared.

"I hope he didn't take that as an insult," muttered Prowl.

"What do you think he meant by thinking what we want?" asked Flareup. "Do we just think as hard as we can?"

"Doubtful."

"But the only other thing I can think of is telepathy," argued Flareup. "And I don't think that's supposed to be possible outside of bonds."

"Perhaps there is another method that the Native Americans utilized," suggested Prowl.

"Oh yeah, Silverbolt mentioned shamans before," recalled Flareup. "I don't think he knows too much about how they did things though."

"_Status update,"_ requested Rodimus over the com link.

"We have found no signs of Bulkhead or the Decepticons," reported Prowl. "Although it does sound as if Lockdown is somewhere in the forest. We will keep an optic out for him."

"_Understood."_

"You know, I'm actually kind of surprised we can use our com links in the forest," commented Flareup.

"We've used them here before," pointed out Prowl.

"Yeah, but that was before Silverbolt told us about the paranormal stuff that happens in here."

Base:

"I see you got the med bay back," said Wheeljack.

Ratchet nodded. "Yeah…Silverbolt said something to Bumblebee that got him to vacate."

"You weren't the one to convince him?"

Ratchet paused for a klik. "He doesn't want to talk to me right now."

"That doesn't usually stop you," argued Wheeljack.

"It's different this time," said Ratchet.

Wheeljack gave Ratchet a sympathetic look. "Still feel guilty? There was nothing you could've done to save Bumblebee's vocalizer."

"There's nothing anyone could've done to save his vocalizer," agreed Ratchet. It had been slagged the moment Lockdown cut through Bumblebee's neck. "It was all I could do to keep him alive. We're lucky he didn't die, but I did lie about Bulkhead," admitted Ratchet.

"You didn't lie," argued Wheeljack. "You just didn't bother to tell him."

"I might as well have lied," said Ratchet. "Bumblebee thought Bulkhead was safe and that he'd been in some kind of accident, and I did nothing to correct this assumption."

"You were worried. Bumblebee was already dealing with his injuries."

"But there's no way Bumblebee wasn't going to find out!" shouted Ratchet. "Bulkhead's his best friend! Of course he'd wonder why he never came to visit! What was I thinking?!"

"Okay, you messed up," agreed Wheeljack. "But can't you just apologize?"

"First Bumblebee has to be willing to stay in the same room as me," muttered Ratchet.

Wheeljack nodded. Bumblebee did seem to be trying to avoid Ratchet. "…So…I hear Silverbolt offered to give Bumblebee his vocalizer earlier…"

Ratchet paused. "You heard about that?"

"I think it's going to be all over the base by the next solar cycle."

"I was concerned about compatibility issues, otherwise I would have taken him up on the offer," admitted Ratchet.

"But would Bumblebee want it? You know how most bots feel about receiving transplants," noted Wheeljack.

"I'm hoping he won't let that bother him," said Ratchet. "If he doesn't get a transplant…I'm not sure he'll be able to stay on Earth."

Around the corner, Bumblebee was listening to them. He'd noticed Ratchet and had decided to backtrack. Then he'd heard his name and had ended up listening to the rest of the conversation. His servos went up to his neck, where his useless vocalizer was. He couldn't stand not being able to talk, but he didn't think he could walk around with another bot's vocalizer in place of his own. But he didn't want to have to leave Earth either. No one here judged him based on the fact he was a half-breed. And it was a nice place.

Bumblebee sighed. Or at least tried to. As that didn't work, Bumblebee had to resist the urge to bash his head against the wall. How had Silverbolt managed to stand this for a thousand stellar cycles? Bumblebee already felt like it was gonna drive him crazy.

That thought led to him searching for the Dino Clan patriarch. Bumblebee found him outside sparring with Sludge. Grimlock and Slag were watching from the sidelines. Bumblebee just stood there watching for a few minutes, not sure how to catch Silverbolt's attention.

Silverbolt must have noticed him because he suddenly stopped the spar with Sludge. "You three spar together for a little while. I need to talk to Bumblebee."

Bumblebee took out the datapad and started typing into it as Silverbolt walked over. He held it up. 'I'm going to go crazy at this rate.'

"I too also felt like I was going crazy," agreed Silverbolt. "It's a hard adjustment to make."

'Ratchet thinks I need to go back to Cybertron.'

Silverbolt tilted his head. "He's not completely wrong. You can still communicate via internal communicators. Most organics do not have those. But I'm not sure you would be happy there. As much as I hate to admit it, Cybertronians are a prejudiced race, and you are of mixed ancestry. In addition, everyone you care for is on this planet."

Bumblebee was silent for a moment before typing in a response. 'That obvious?'

"It just…always bothered me," said Silverbolt. "Teaching bots to hate rather than trying to learn about what they don't understand."

'I don't think I've ever heard you talk so much.'

"English is my third language. I am still not completely used to speaking it," explained Silverbolt. "And…I was used to being silent."

'I don't want to be silent.'

"Then don't be. There are other ways to speak." Silverbolt gestured towards the datapad. "There's writing. Sign language. Body language."

'Didn't you use sign language?' asked Bumblebee.

Silverbolt brought up his hands. "I still use it," said Silverbolt as he made signs with his hands. "There are humans who cannot hear or cannot talk, and they use this to communicate. It is a useful thing to know even if one has no disabilities."

Bumblebee watched Silverbolt's hands move as he talked. It was…mesmerizing…in a way. 'Makes sense, but not many humans use it, right?'

"Are you worried about Brad, Carlos, and Alexis?" asked Silverbolt. "You bring up a good point. They can learn sign language, but it can take years to become fluent in it. Writing everything out can cause conversation to be uncomfortably stilted though. Which brings up the question of what you are going to decide on."

Bumblebee was silent. 'I don't want to go back to Cybertron.'

"Then don't. Find another way."

Another way…

Bumblebee nodded. 'Thanks.'

Silverbolt smiled. "You're welcome."

Detroit:

"Wow, look at all that dihydrogen monoxide!" crowed Swindle, opticing the lake. Water was pretty rare in most parts of the galaxy, but it was pretty plentiful on this planet. "These guys have no idea the gold mine they're sitting on." Swindle took out a container and dunked it in the water until it was full. "Not the cleanest example, but anyone who cares about that will have purification equipment." Swindle debated getting another container.

Eh, he'd wait until after he did some more looking around for what sort of raw supplies this planet had. Who knows, maybe something more valuable would pop up.

As Swindle was driving down the street, he noticed a jewelry store. From what he saw inside, it looked like they consisted of valuable minerals and metals like on other planets.

Note to self, look for deposits of these materials.

Deciding that it was worth looking in to, Swindle looked up jewelry on the internet.

Huh, these guys were pretty creative. Wonder if it was confined to jewelry. Swindle looked up art.

Mostly paintings and sculptures. Pretty wide range. Some of them were pretty strange. Some he could see certain bots happily buying. Although size was an issue. He'd probably need to stick to certain species in that regard.

…What the frak's a comic book?

Huh, it's sort of like a book, only instead of being made of words, it's made of pictures and words. Swindle had actually never seen that sort of thing before. Maybe he should download a bit and see what other bots made of it. If nothing else, it would give him something to read in space.

Wait. They got movies based on comic books and novels? Not sure what the point of that is, but he'd take some of those too.

Note to self, make fun of their sci-fi genre and how inaccurate it is. Tell others about it so they can join in.

Also, never go on a pornography site again. Ew. A little too adventurous there.

Autobot base:

Someone banged on the door to Wheeljack's lab. Wheeljack cut off his welding torch. "It's safe!"

Bumblebee stepped in. _'You sure?'_ he texted.

"Yeah, I'm just working on a secondary processor. I'm trying to improve the ones I use to correct for the small errors in motor control that occur when I get excited. And maybe aren't affected by electrical surges," explained Wheeljack. "Don't want another accident. Ratchet's got enough on his plate as it is. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

'_I kind of heard you and Ratchet talking earlier,'_ admitted Bumblebee.

"Oh…About what to do with you?"

'_Yeah…'_

"Well, what do you think?" asked Wheeljack. "I know what Ratchet is hoping you choose, but he's not gonna force you into anything."

'_I don't want someone else's vocalizer,'_ said Bumblebee. '_It just…creeps me out. No offense.'_

"None taken," said Wheeljack. "Most bots in your situation make that choice. Nothing to be ashamed of."

'_But I don't want to go back to Cybertron either,'_ continued Bumblebee. _'I'm happier here or repairing space bridges where no one knows about me.'_

"That's…also understandable," admitted Wheeljack. "But more difficult. You'll be able to communicate with others of our kind so long as they're willing to listen. Humans are a bit of a problem though. No internal communicators, you see. And there's only a few Cybertronians on this planet."

'_Silverbolt suggested sign language.'_

"That would work with humans provided they knew the language, but I'm under the impression most humans don't know it," said Wheeljack. "I don't think the human race is going to learn sign language just so they can effectively communicate with you, no offense."

'_None taken.'_ Bumblebee frowned. What else could they try? Then it hit him. _'Can't I send texts to the kids' phones?'_ asked Bumblebee. _'Most of those have texting functions.'_

Wheeljack paused. "That might be workable. I know how the phones work. I should be able to make a couple of tweaks so that you can send messages along it the same way you do with regular inter coms. I'll need to test it first of course."

'_But it could work, right?'_

"Yeah. You'd have to enter their phone numbers, but it's workable so long as they have their phones with them," said Wheeljack. "The downside would be you'd need a human's phone number to communicate with them, and you won't know that when you meet a human for the first time."

That was similar to the drawbacks of the texting function Bumblebee was getting used to. He couldn't send a bot a text if he didn't have their com frequency, and he couldn't ask for their frequency if he couldn't talk. _'Isn't there anything else I can use?'_

"Nothing that doesn't have as many drawbacks as the texting…or more. Believe me. Ratchet and Red Alert went through all the options, and came to me for a second opinion." That had been unusual. Usually, Ratchet came to him with requests for replacement parts, not asking for his opinion.

Bumblebee visibly wilted. He'd been hoping there was something else that could work. Wheeljack didn't miss this. "Hey." Wheeljack placed a servo on Bumblebee's shoulder. "Another few kliks, and we'd have lost you. You're lucky to be alive."

'_I know.'_

"We'll get through this. I promise," said Wheeljack. "And we'll find Bulkhead. And rescue him."

Bumblebeee nodded. _'Yeah we will.'_

Wheeljack's fins lit up in a grin and he hugged Bumblebee. Bumblebee hugged him back. "Now go talk to Ratchet. He's half convinced himself you hate him."

'_Okay.'_

In the med bay, Red Alert was trying to explain something to Swoop. Ratchet was there in case Red Alert had trouble explaining something, but his mind was a million miles away.

Why was it everyone he got close to ended up damaged somehow? Arcee hadn't exactly been a friend, but he'd done his best to protect her even after her memory had been wiped. Afterwards he'd ended up learning a lot about her and realized she'd been a good bot. She hadn't deserved what had happened to her.

Wheeljack had already been damaged when the two had met. In fact, that was how their odd friendship had started. Ratchet had been the only bot willing to perform several experimental procedures that would allow Wheeljack to function normally.

And now Bumblebee…Bumblebee wasn't going to talk again unless he had a transplant…and Ratchet was never going to hear Bumblebee's natural voice from the source again even if Bumblebee did take the option.

As if Bumblebee's childhood hadn't been bad enough.

Now that Ratchet thought about it, it could be extended to most of the repair crew and other bots on Earth. Prowl had acquired a glitch. Bulkhead had been abducted by Decepticons. The Dinobots had beast modes, which would have them considered a lower form of Cybertronian life by most Transformers, something their simple natures wouldn't exactly help with. Silverbolt had been stranded on a planet in a new body for over 12 vorns. Sari had apparently had a couple of traumatizing events early in her life that had left her about as jaded as a veteran of the Great War. The only one who seemed undamaged was Flareup, and the record was starting to make Ratchet worry about her chances.

Really, if this sort of thing happened to every bot Ratchet became even a little fond of, maybe he should just move to the middle of nowhere and live as a hermit for the rest of his life.

"Ratchet?"

Ratchet jolted back to reality. "Huh?"

"Swoop was just curious about the tool your holding," explained Red Alert. "Most medics don't have a plate remover."

Ratchet glanced down at the tools he'd been cleaning and organizing. He hadn't really been paying attention to what he'd pulled out. "It's left over from the war." Ratchet kept his tools until they were worn out, and he always replaced them when they wore out. "Sometimes blaster fire fused plates together and to the circuitry and places underneath. You needed a lot of force to remove them."

Swoop winced. "Ow."

"Yeah. Ow." Ratchet placed the plate remover in its place. "It's not used very often nowadays." Ratchet hoped he wouldn't have to use it again for a very long time.

These thoughts were interrupted by someone rapping at the med bay door, catching every bot's attention. Bumblebee shifted nervously as their gaze fell upon him. Ratchet's brow creased with worry. "Is something wrong?" he asked. He was still worried about complications from the injuries and operation.

Bumblebee answered by walking over and hugging Ratchet, completely catching him off guard. '_I love you. Thank you for saving my life.'_

"Oh…" Ratchet hugged Bumblebee back. "I love you too." And just like that, Ratchet knew things were back to normal between the two. Ratchet looked up to see Red Alert smirking at him. "What're you looking at?"

"Nothing, nothing." Red Alert thought the whole thing was rather sweet, but she certainly wasn't going to say that to Ratchet's face.

Forest:

"Is communing with nature working?" asked Flareup. Prowl was sitting on a stone a few feet away. "'Cause you've been doing that for nearly two cycles."

Prowl didn't move.

"Prowl?" Flareup waved her servo in front of his visor. Then she flicked his helm. Prowl tensed before leaning forward with his servos on his knees. "You okay?"

"I-I _glitched_," said Prowl, his voice full of shock. "I've never glitched in an outdoor environment before."

Flareup frowned. "I thought it only happened when you were lacking stimuli."

"It…it must be quieter than usual," reasoned Prowl. "That happens sometimes."

"There's a woodpecker," countered Flareup. "Lots of bird calls. And a curious raccoon. It was not quiet."

Prowl shook his head. "It was probably just a one-time thing."

"Prowl…This isn't the first time your glitch has happened," said Flareup. "And if it's happening in an environment that you thought prevented it…I think you're going to need to let Ratchet have another look at you."

Prowl wanted to argue, wanted to say that he could try again…but Flareup had her servos on her hips and was giving him a look that brokered no argument. Prowl sighed. "Very well. We can try again another time."

Flareup sighed. "Things just keep getting worse and worse. Why can't we catch a break?"

"Because life never goes the way we want it to," said Prowl, flexing his digits. How easy it was to slip away…

"Well, let's get going," said Flareup. "The sooner we get this figured out, the sooner we can get back to looking for Bulkhead."

Under Detroit:

"I can't believe how far I've fallen," muttered Hector as he trudged through the sewage.

Nancy shrugged. "Hey, humans have very good immune systems. You'll be fine as long as you keep those boots and pants on."

"You're human too, you realize," Hector reminded her.

"Half human. Way better than being a full human," said Nancy. "Trust me. There's a reason robots are superior to humans once they gain sentience."

"You don't care that you're betraying your own species?"

"Not really. Most humans are jerks. Besides, Soundwave promised to try and keep my family safe. They're the only ones I really care about."

Hector snorted. "Bunch of kids playing grown-up."

"If being a grown-up means being like you and Powell, I'll gladly stay a kid," countered Nancy.

At that point, she ducked into a side tunnel. Shortly after that, they came across their headquarters. "We're back." Ravage walked over and rubbed against her legs. She scratched him behind the ears. "We inserted the schematics into their normal blueprints. They'll start producing machines containing the equipment tomorrow. Given their normal production rate, the amount necessary for the next step should be spread across the planet in around six months."

Soundwave nodded. "Noted and confirmed. Operation Hostile Takeover: Will commence when Megatron gives the signal."

_And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword._

"This weekend has been awful!"

Vector checked his calendar. "It's Labor Day weekend. Doesn't that mean you have three days off instead of the regular two?"

"Yeah, but I had to do a bunch of running around on Saturday. And my internet was acting funky. And I lost a ring I was fond of. And my apartment's dryer stopped working, which I found out in the evening."

"So you have wet clothes?"

"No, the apartment complex has a laundry center. It cost $1.75 though, and I didn't want to leave my clothes there without supervision. Then when my dad came by for a visit, he somehow managed to get both working within five minutes, and he doesn't even know what he did!"

"Think of this as the cosmos punishing you for inflicting harm on the Autobots you like," said Vector.

KHGiggle gave Vector an unamused look. "Oh, ha ha. Very funny.

"I was being serious."

KHGiggle threw her arms up. "Let's just get on with it, okay? I have bread I need to finish baking."

"First you need to answer a query from Fanatic97."

"What?"

"He or she thinks you did a good job with the Constructicons but is wondering why you only had two instead of including all the known Constructicons like you did with the Dinobots."

"Oh. That. I wondered if anyone was gonna ask about that," admitted KHGiggle. "Got a couple of reasons for that. First of all is that with the Dinobots I was able to tell them apart pretty easily and get what I think is a fairly decent understanding of their basic personalities from the G1 episodes I'd seen. The Constructicons on the other hand…Well, I still can't tell one from the other. And I mix up who has what alt mode. And really the only personality I'm familiar with is Hook's, and that's only because he's so often portrayed as a perfectionist in fanon. I decided I wouldn't be able to portray more Constructicons than were already in the Animated universe.

"The second reason is that there are enough characters in this story as it is. There's a reason the shows downsized the cast after G1. It's hard writing so many characters accurately while making sure they get attention. I'm having enough trouble with that as it is…"

"And now you can get back to your bread," said Vector.

"First we gotta post this chapter. Shouldn't take too long."

_This has been The Afterword._


	14. A Bridge too Far

"The space bridge is done," said Bulkhead. "You just need to put in the coordinates for where you want to go and find a power source…I don't know what you're planning to use though. Usually solar power or lightning strikes are utilized, but you're too far underground for that."

"I'm aware." Megatron removed the top off of the power cell and started inserting the shards of the Allspark they had.

"Uh, I don't think that's going to work," said Bulkhead.

"The Allspark is the most powerful artifact known to Cybertron," said Megatron. "I'm sure it can power a single space bridge."

Bulkhead shrugged. "Okay." Bulkhead typed in a few commands. "Testing in 3…2…1…"

The whole thing lit up briefly before dying with a whine. Megatron frowned and looked at Bulkhead, silently demanding an explanation. "It's too much power. It overloaded the space bridge and the power overflow units. I don't think removing some of the shards will help either." And Bulkhead was perfectly fine with that.

"How fortunate then that you are free to experiment until you find a viable method."

Bulkhead briefly wondered why Megatron would want to have a space bridge powered by Allspark fragments. Did he want to ask?

Probably not.

The Moon, next to the Nemesis:

"Never have I seen such a skilled set of Decepticon soldiers assembled in one place," declared Starscream. "And pretty good looking if I do say so myself."

Standing in front of Starscream were a set of mechs that looked just like him except for their coloration. Starscream started screwing the head on the last one, which was black and purple. "I should've done this a lot sooner." He opened the panel on his forehead that covered the shard keeping him alive and carefully pinched off a piece that he placed in the empty spark chamber. "Megatron won't know what hit him!"

And then the last clone finished starting up. "Megatron?! Are you completely insane?!" He winced and drooped. "I-I think I just sprang a leak."

Starscream blinked at the odd reaction. "Okay…That was weird. Ignoring, that little outburst…" Starscream trailed off when he noticed a yellow and blue clone gathering together a bunch of rocks. "What are you doing?"

"These are my rocks! Mine!" snapped the clone.

Starscream eyed the clone warily. "…They're rocks."

"Still mine!"

"That's not pathetic at all," said the white clone.

The blue and gray clone snorted. "Obviously you are all inferior to myself."

The orange clone nodded. "Indeed. You are truly an amazing example of a seeker."

"Hey! I'm the original!" interjected Starscream.

"And what an impressive creator you are, constructing so many fine clones," said the orange clone.

Starscream grinned. "I think I like this clone." He frowned. "But why are you acting so strangely?"

"Ugh, haven't you figured it out yet?" asked a femme clone while rolling her optics. "We obviously represent different aspects of your personality."

Starscream stared. "What the Pit? I didn't construct any femmes!" Although he did recognize her coloration. "Where'd you come from?"

"Who cares? She's hot!" said a green clone, getting between the two. "Would the fact we're technically the same bot turn you off in any way?"

Starscream made a face. "Ew…" That was way too squicky for his tastes.

The dark red clone crossed his arms with a scowl. "Why are all the interesting aspects taken? I could be a much better Greedy Clone than that bot!"

"My rocks!"

"Or a better Coward Clone than that bot!"

Said coward whimpered.

"Or a better Suck Up than that bot!"

"So assuming you ended up with my worst aspects…" mused Starscream. "You're a coward, you're full of yourself, you're a suck up, you're greedy, you're jealous, you're lustful, you're-"

"A wonderful mech who always tells the truth," interrupted the white clone.

"Just for that I'm gonna assume you're a liar."

"I am not!"

"And you're…" Starscream trailed off when he came to the femme. "My feminism?"

"No."

"Yeah, you don't seem very feminine," admitted Starscream, ignoring the glare this got him. "Do you know what you are?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then what are you?"

"You don't want to know."

"I bet it's something awesome," muttered the Jealous Clone.

"I was hoping the Allspark would cancel out that cloning issue," muttered Starscream. "Oh well, you should still work." He just needed them to off Megatron, and then he didn't care what happened to them. "Off to Detroit!"

Autobot base:

"It's about time you let us try to diagnose you," said Ratchet.

Prowl shrugged. "I never glitched in an environment with stimuli before."

"Do you think the glitch is progressing?" asked Red Alert.

"I hope not," muttered Ratchet.

Prowl frowned. "What would it mean if my glitch is progressing?"

"It would mean that we need to try and reverse it," said Ratchet. He frowned as he saw something on the screen and pointed at a line of coding. "What's that?"

Red Alert zeroed in on it. "It looks like…the coding that allows the spark and processor to communicate with one another."

Ratchet narrowed his optics. "The coding for that should be the same in every Cybertronian, but it's different here."

It took longer for Red Alert to see what he was talking about. "I see. It's extremely minor, so we missed it before."

"Can you fix it?" asked Prowl.

"We'll find out," said Ratchet.

"It could take a while," said Red Alert. "A glitch arising from this area is rare. We'll have to work out a cure on our own. And then we'll have to figure out how to implement the cure without disrupting the natural coding to the point that it ceases to function properly."

"And I'm going to make sure all your circuits are aligned," added Ratchet. "That can sometimes halt progressive glitches and turn them into standard glitches."

Prowl nodded. "When can we start?"

"I can check your circuits now," said Ratchet. "Developing a cure will be more difficult. We're entering into unknown territory. That will take time. Fortunately, glitches progress very slowly. We should be able to have come up with something by the time it starts to become really serious."

Prowl nodded, utterly relieved. He didn't know what his glitch would be like if it was allowed to worsen, but it couldn't be good.

Quite a bit later, Prowl walked out of the med bay, stretching. The examination had left him feeling rather stiff.

"There you are!" Prowl blinked and looked down at Sari. "You said you wanted to learn sign language, right?"

"Yes, I downloaded the language. It's…interesting." Speaking with movements. What an unusual concept.

"Dad and I are giving lessons," said Sari. "You want to join?"

"Sure."

Sari led him to the rec room. Inside were Silverbolt, Flareup, Bumblebee, Kup, Wheeljack, Hot Shot, Rad, Carlos, and Alexis. Prowl raised an optic ridge at some of the students before sitting down.

"Okay, Dad and I have already given the Dinobots a few lessons, so they'll be joining in eventually," said Sari. "You guys mostly get along with them, so that shouldn't be an issue."

"Sign language isn't like spoken languages," said Silverbolt, starting the lesson. "Words have various hand gestures, but individual letters also have their own individual sign. This is so if you don't know the sign for a word, you can spell it out and ask for the sign."

"What about names?" asked Alexis.

"Dad and I made up our own signs based on other words. I'm not sure if that's the normal method," admitted Sari. "Mine's a modified sign for 'Sorry'. Dad's is sort of a combination of Silver and Bolt." She looked at the human children. "We'll have to come up with something for you guys."

"Now, we'll be showing you the ABC's today, along with a few simple signs, like 'okay'," said Silverbolt. "Sari's made some sheets so that you can study on your own if you want to." Silverbolt bent his fingers so that they were flat on his palm while facing down with his thumb facing up. "This is 'A'. Notice that my fingers are not curled into the palm of my hand."

Silverbolt and Sari continued to show them all the signs for the letters of the alphabet. It was…harder than they expected. Some of the letters looked similar, and some of the signs' positions were a bit odd. Most of the lesson consisted of repeatedly going through the signs and spelling a few simple words.

Eventually, Silverbolt dismissed the 'class' as he noticed the human kids seemed to be getting frustrated. "Make sure to practice with each other as much as you can," said Silverbolt. "You'll need it if you want to become proficient in the language."

Everyone nodded, and started wandering off. Prowl went with Sari to check on the Dinobots. Hot Shot went to take the kids home. Wheeljack headed in the direction of his lab. Kup walked outside. Flareup grabbed a datapad with archaeology information and started reading it. Bumblebee kept practicing the signs. "Taking this seriously, hm?" asked Silverbolt, signing along with what he said.

Bumblebee nodded. Then he signed something. Silverbolt frowned. "I think you mixed up some of the words. The sentence did not make sense," said Silverbolt, still signing.

Bumblebee pouted and sent a text to Flareup. "He says he wants to talk to his friends again," relayed Flareup.

Silverbolt made a sound of understanding and nodded. "Texting is uncomfortable?" Bumblebee nodded. "I know what you mean. Writing out whatever you want takes time, and when you communicate with only the written words it…takes something away. Written letters don't carry…volume. You cannot express…emotion as easily. It is difficult to put into words. Am I making sense?" Bumblebee nodded. "Good. But I do not think you need to be in a hurry. The texts do not take too long for you to put together, and the human children will take some time to learn sign language."

Bumblebee nodded but kept practicing the signs. Silverbolt nodded understandingly. When he'd first learned sign language himself, he'd been so excited that he practiced in all his spare time.

Detroit proper:

"I'm pretty sure that's 'S'," said Carlos.

Rad stared at his hand. He had his index finger awkwardly wrapped around his thumb. "You sure. I could've sworn this was 'T'."

Alexis checked out the study sheet Sari had given them. "Yeah, that is 'T'."

Carlos double checked his sheet. "Oh, it is. I wish you could make more signs with your hand. Some of these are easy to confuse."

"I'm just amazed that anyone thought to make a language that consists completely of gestures," said Hot Shot. "I've never seen that sort of thing before."

"Aren't there other races out there that can go mute?" asked Rad.

"…You know, I never thought about it. I kind of avoided anything that might be organic," admitted Hot Shot.

"Why?" asked Carlos.

"Well, most Cybertronians consider organics dangerous and inferior, and I bought into that," admitted Hot Shot, feeling rather guilty about it. "But…This planet is nice, not dangerous. And one of you guys managed to put together something that let you fight us head on."

The kids were silent. "Do the others think the same way?" asked Alexis.

"Um, hard to say…Prowl seems to love you guys…Most of the repair crew seem to like you guys. Kup actually respects you guys. Red Alert…She's hard to read, but she's not afraid. Rodimus isn't afraid either, but…Anyway, you only need to look out for the ones like Ironhide and Wasp."

"What about Silverbolt and Sari?" asked Carlos.

"They're half organic. They can't be afraid, and I think they prefer organics to Cybertronians," said Hot Shot.

"Those two are really complicated," commented Rad. "It would take years to figure out how they think…And that's if you know psychology."

"Yeah, we know hardly anything about them," agreed Hot Shot. "Not even where they came from…We don't even-" Hot Shot was cut off as a blue car suddenly shot out in front of him, forcing him to swerve and eliciting some surprised screams from the kids. The blue car quickly positioned itself in front of Hot Shot, who recognized it as the unknown Cybertronian from when Wheeljack had been kidnapped. He opened his back doors. "Hide!" The kids quickly ran out. Hot Shot quickly transformed and formed his flamethrowers. "Show yourself!"

The blue car transformed into a lithe mech. Hot Shot's optics went to the symbol on the mech's chest: An Autobot brand, and not just any brand. It was flanked by a pair of wings, denoting him as a member of the Elite Guard.

Hot Shot had just threatened a member of the Elite Guard. He was in so much trouble. He quickly changed his flamethrowers back to servos and saluted. "Sir!"

"Atease." Hot Shot lowered his servo. "What'sthedate?"

Hot Shot took a moment to figure out what the other said. "June 28, 2169 by the human calendar."

"GoodthatmeansthatnotasmuchtimehaspassedasIthought."

Hot Shot blinked. "What?"

" .It'sstopped,it'sgonebackwards,it'sgonewaytoofast,it'sbeenarealpainintheaft!"

Hot Shot and the kids, who'd come out by then, were starting at the other mech in shock. How could he talk so quickly?

"AndthentherewasalltheweirdstuffIkeptrunninginto! , ' .Ofcoursethatcouldn'tbewhatitwas,butthat'swhatitlookedlike."

"Uh, sir," interrupted Hot Shot. "Not to be rude, but what're you doing here?"

This just seemed to upset the mech as he started pacing irritably. " ,particularlythepartialorganicsandDinobots,anddeterminetheirloyalties, ,Iwasmeanttoremainincognito, , .However,sincethere'satleast6Decepticonspresent,likelyincludingMegatron,IdecideditwasnecessarytobreakcoverinordertoobtainreinforcementstoinvadethebaseandremoveBulkheadbeforehecangivetheDecepticonsanyusefulspacebridgeinformation." He turned to Hot Shot. "Thatbeingsaid,Imustspeakwithyourcommandingofficerimmediately."

Hot Shot and the kids stared at the other mech in shock. What…What was that? Was that even English? "Can you repeat that?" asked Hot Shot.

"Sure,whichpart?"

"Everything."

The mech frowned and made a frustrated sound. "Take me to your commanding officer." Somehow, he made it sound like he was talking painfully slow even though he was talking at a normal speed.

"Oh, right, um…" Hot Shot looked at the kids.

"It's okay. We'll just call home for a ride," said Rad.

"Thanks. I'll make it up to you. I promise," said Hot Shot before transforming and heading for the base with the speedy mech right behind him.

"I wonder what that was about," commented Alexis.

"Work stuff I guess," said Carlos. "It sounded important."

Rad nodded absentmindedly. He felt scared…He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew that Hot Shot was a soldier, and Rad couldn't think of a more dangerous occupation.

Shortly afterwards:

"IamspecialagentBlurroftheEliteGuard, .Itdidn' ,IwasabletointerceptcommunicationsbetweenMegatronandanunknownDecepticonagentonCybertronandrealizedthattheywereconspiringtoabductBulkheadsinceheisCybertron' .Asheisnotpresent, .Timeisoftheessencesowemustleaveassoonaspossible."

Everyone stared at Blurr. Everyone. "Do we have a translator?" asked Rodimus.

"I think he said his name is Blurr," said Wheeljack. "And…He knows where the Decepticon base is?" Blurr nodded.

'Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get Bulkhead!' texted Bumblebee.

"We definitely need to retrieve Bulkhead," agreed Rodimus. "We need to come up with some sort of strategy though…Where is the base?"

Blurr ran to the nearest computer. "TheDecepticonsarecurrentlyusinganabandonedcoalmineastheirbase,whichlikelyisatleastpartofthereasontheirsignalscannotbedetected." He pulled up a diagram and marked several locations. " 'tknowaboutsincethey'llhaveaguardstationedatalltheentrancestheydoknowabout."

Rodimus looked at the picture and took a moment to figure out what it was. "Do you know which ones we should avoid?" Blurr pointed at three entrances. "Well, guess we won't be using those…You rank higher than me. Pretty sure that makes you the commanding officer. What's your plan?"

"Stasiscuffs."

Rodimus gave Blurr a look of disbelief. "…That's it?"

"Tacticsaren'tmystrongsuit."

"Okay…" Rodimus studied the map. "I don't want to split up in case the deposits in the rock disrupt communications. Blurr will scout ahead. Then we'll decide who will do what exactly."

"Dinobots go too!" said Grimlock.

Rodimus stared. "You…can be our backup." Yeah, he just pulled that out of his aft.

"If they go, so do I," said Silverbolt in a tone that brokered no argument.

"Me too," said Sari.

"I would like to keep an optic on them as well," added Prowl.

"Okay…They seemed to be the only ones who could control the Dinobots anyway. "So, that means myself and my squad will be accompanied by Blurr, Kup, and Silverbolt and will determine the nature of the threat before attacking. The Dinobots will hang back as back up with Prowl and Sari as their handlers."

Silverboolt frowned. "Don't you think it would be better if everyone had some idea of what to do before we get there?"

"We won't know what to expect until we get there," argued Rodimus. "I don't want to make plans until I know what we're facing."

'_What about the rest of us?'_ asked Bumblebee.

"You're not soldiers. You'll stay here," said Rodimus. Neither Bumblebee nor Flareup looked happy about it. Wheeljack looked relieved. Ratchet looked…neutral. "That being said, everyone go gather anything you think you may need for the fight."

The members of Team Athenia nodded and dispersed. Ratchet turned to Sari. "I want you to help me with something."

Sari crossed her arms. "Ask nicely."

"I'll ask after I explain what I want your help with," said Ratchet. "It has to do with the ship…I want to get him airborne if possible."

They'd just finished putting together their own plan when the various members of Team Athenia returned. "Everybody ready?" asked Rodimus. Not negative responses were given. "Yes? Good. Move out!" The squad left the base.

Blurr was a hard bot to follow. It seemed he did everything faster than a normal bot. He didn't even seem to know how to just walk instead of run. Everyone else had to go at a pace that didn't normally equate with 'silent and stealthy'.

Eventually, they reached a small rock face. Blurr quickly removed the vines covering an entrance. "Rightthroughhere."

"Great." Rodimus turned towards the Dinobots and their parents. "We'll call you if we need any help. With that, Team Athenia and Blurr disappeared into the tunnel.

Sari, who'd been sitting on Prowl's shoulder, and Swoop abruptly disappeared. A few minutes later, Flareup, Bumblebee, and Wheeljack came out of the treeline.

"Told ya we'd be able to follow their trail," said Flareup.

Wheeljack nodded. "Yeah, we know." Wheeljack glanced at the tunnel. "By the by, we got a plan for if they come out?"

"We'll come up with an excuse," said Prowl.

Elsewhere:

Swoop deposited Ratchet on the top of the space ship before landing and transforming. Sari jumped off his back. "For the record, I have no idea if I can do this again."

"We gotta at least try," said Ratchet. He climbed inside, the other two close behind him.

Ratchet moved right past the engine room. Sari frowned. "Shouldn't we work on the engines?"

"In a breem or two."

Sari frowned. How was the ship going to fly if the engines were scrapped? She kept following Ratchet until he stopped at what looked like just another wall. Then Ratchet rapped at it in a few places, and the panel slid open. Inside the room was what looked like a large cathode tube and security boxes.

Ratchet opened the tube just enough to slip in some Allspark shards inside before closing it. He frowned, like he had expected something to happen. He turn to Sari. "Can you jumpstart it?"

"No idea." Sari put her hands on the tube. "Let's find out." She could feel the Allspark shards quite easily. She'd found she could feel most shards so long as they let her. They were letting her now so they must be okay with whatever Ratchet wanted her to do here.

Wait. There was something else here. It was very faint, so faint that Sari could barely pick it up. It felt…tired. Sari tried to focus, but it kept slipping by, like water through a pair of cupped hands.

Sari tried meditation. That helped Prowl with his processor over matter. Maybe it would help her here. She tried to control her breathing and focus on whatever the tired entity was. It didn't work, but she seemed to have caught its attention.

It regarded her curiously. Who was she? What was she? What did she want with him? He just wanted to rest.

Her name was Sari. She was techno-organic. She didn't want to bother the ghost (Because that's what she realized he was.). Ratchet had just asked her to try and jumpstart this piece of machinery.

For some reason, that caught the ghost's attention. Was Ratchet in trouble?

Ratchet was just fine. Sari wasn't so sure about everyone else who had gone to fight the Decepticons.

That struck a chord. The ghost started writhing and struggling to move, and the Allspark shards flared and started to pour energy into the ghost.

Sari's eyes flew open as a spark appeared in the tube and she realized they were standing in a giant spark chamber!

"Ratchet?" asked a deep voice that seemed to come from everywhere, causing Swoop and Sari to jump.

Ratchet let out a sigh of relief and put a servo on the spark's tube with a smile. "Good to see you again, old friend."

"Ratchet…What is going on? I can't see…"

"You were pretty badly damaged, and you're partially embedded in a small mountain," explained Ratchet. "We'll check your optical sensors and make repairs as necessary, but it may simply be that they're covered by the rocks."

"Talking ship?" questioned Swoop, tapping a wall.

"No…This ship is a living Transformer, isn't it?" questioned Sari, giving Ratchet an accusatory look.

"Yes. This is Omega Supreme. Omega, this is Sari and Swoop," introduced Ratchet.

"A flier? Have the Decepticons infiltrated?"

"Swoop not Decepticon!" protested Swoop.

"He's not even a stellar cycle old," added Ratchet. "He's safe."

"The other one is Sari?" asked Omega Supreme. Sari had the feeling something was studying her from all angles. "She's…so…small," he said in a slightly awed voice, like he was surprised something so small could exist.

"She's one-of-a-kind," agreed Ratchet. "Now, I hate to tell you this right after waking you up, but we are dealing with a set of very dangerous Decepticons, including Megatron, and they're trying to figure out how to work space bridges. A team's already gone down to try and fix things, but…"

"I understand. I will help in any way I can," promised Omega.

"Right. We'll make some repairs first. We'll catch up afterwards. There's…a lot I want to talk with you about," said Ratchet. Ratchet turned to Swoop. "You're with me. Sari-"

"Did you just have me bring a dead bot back to life?" demanded Sari.

"…Now's not a good time to talk about this," said Ratchet. "We'll talk later."

Sari had to admit that Ratchet was right. She didn't want to sit on the sidelines while her family was fighting. "Fine. I'll do what I did last time, but don't think I'm going to let this drop."

Mine:

Rodimus tapped his thigh impatiently as he waited for Blurr to return from scouting ahead.

"Stop that before somebody hears you," demanded Kup.

Rodimus stopped and instead looked in the direction. "What's taking him so long?"

"Perhaps he ran into a problem?" suggested Silverbolt.

"But he's with the Elite Guard," argued Wasp.

"He can still have problems."

Rodimus held up a servo to silence the two as he saw Blurr coming back. For someone so fast, Blurr was surprisingly quiet. "So who's present?"

"IsightedDecepticonsthatmatchMegatron,Blitzwing,Lugnut,Strika,Blackout,andOilSlick'physicaldescriptionsandaSeekerbuildIdidn' ,andthey' ,probablyhostages."

"Megatron?" squeaked Hot Shot. "For real?" Blurr nodded.

Rodimus smirked. "So he really is here…"

"Focus," snapped Kup.

Rodimus nodded. "Right…Red Alert, you stay back in case there are any injuries."

"Of course there are gonna be injuries!" hissed Kup.

"Blurr, how many stasis cuffs do you have?"

"Three."

Rodimus frowned. "Scrap, that's not a lot. Well, I want you to slap a pair on Blackout first. His ability to disrupt electronics could cause us problems. Then go for Megatron. If the stories about him are true-"

"They are," interrupted Kup.

"Then we want to avoid fighting him if we can," continued Rodimus. He thought for a moment. "Use the last one on Lugnut. His explosive punch mod is not something we want to deal with in an enclosed environment."

Blurr nodded.

"Autobots move out, and be quiet," instructed Rodimus.

Outside:

"Me Grimlock bored!"

Prowl sighed. "Yes, I know, but it takes time to scout out an area. You have to be cautious and move slowly if you don't want to be noticed."

Bumblebee was spelling out some words with Sludge. "Videogame?" Bumblebee nodded and spelled something else. "Wing?" Bumblebee nodded and spelled something again. "Fuel?" Bumblebee nodded.

"I think you have the signing alphabet down," said Flareup.

'_Yeah, I wonder when we can start on actual words.'_

"I wouldn't be in such a hurry," said Flareup. "It sounded like it was gonna take the kids a while to learn it."

'_Er, yeah that's true…'_

"That transplant option is still open," Wheeljack reminded Bumblebee.

Bumblebee made a face. _'I know, but it still just…creeps me out. How can you stand having part of another bot you don't even know inside your body?'_

Wheeljack shrugged. "You get used to it."

"How much longer?" asked Slag.

Prowl thought for a moment. "We'll give it another breem or so, then we'll move in okay?"

Mine:

The group could just see into a cavern that was somewhat lit up. _"Okay, maintain silence. Blurr, get going."_

Blurr ran out just as Silverbolt suddenly jumped onto the ceiling and Kup tackled Red Alert back. A trap went off just as Blurr slapped stasis cuffs on Blackout, filling the tunnel with a green smoke. Oil Slick smirked. "Worked like a charm."

"Okay, so you were right about the intruders," admitted Icy Blitzwing.

Blurr meanwhile had decided to try and slap stasis cuffs on Megatron anyway. Megatron swung and slammed a fist into Blurr's head at just the right moment though, sending the speedster flying into a wall.

At this point, Silverbolt had crawled past the cloud of gas back into the tunnel. He started flapping his wings so that the gas was sent into the cavern. Oil Slick jumped back. "Scrap." Everyone else who was nearby followed his example. They were familiar with his experiments and did not want to become unwilling guinea pigs.

Red Alert immediately started examining the groaning bots who got caught by the gas. "Can you fix them?" asked Kup.

"Yeah, but I'll need a klik or two."

Silverbolt ran over to Blitzwing and swung his ax (tomahawk?) at him. Hothead caught it. "Ha!" Silverbolt kicked Blitzwing across the midsection, raking at the metal with his talons before kicking off and landing next to the opening of the tunnel. He immediately had to defend himself against Cyclonus.

"Well, if nothing else, we can block the entrance," said Kup, pulling out his own ax. Then he ran out just in time to intercept Lugnut. Kup couldn't overpower Lugnut, but he managed to hook Lugnut's arm with his ax and somehow redirect the punch so that it was hitting air. Then he swept at Lugnut's legs so that Lugnut, who was already off balance, fell to the ground. Then Strika lashed out at him, but Kup managed to easily dodge it.

Blurr was also fighting. He'd decided that since he couldn't get to Megatron or Lugnut, he'd try to slap them on Oil Slick. Oil Slick wasn't a ninja for nothing. He wasn't able to move as quickly as Blurr, but he was able to predict Blurr's movements enough to block and defend himself. While this was going on, Icy Blitzwing was removing Blackout's stasis cuffs. "Don't short circuit anything. We need to test the space bridge."

"Okay…" Blackout went ahead and started heading over to the tunnel.

Bulkhead's optics widened. "Guys!" Bulkhead tried to run over and help, but was cut off when a sword cut across his path.

"Stay where you are," commanded Megatron. He glanced at the construction bots. "Is it ready?"

"Give us a sec." Mixmaster finished screwing something in place. "There. Go ahead and try it."

"Hey, what's with all the fighting anyway?" asked Scrapper.

"Beats me. Maybe they're gangs?" suggested Mixmaster as Megatron started up the space bridge.

"Is it safe to work for them?" asked Scrapper.

Mixmaster thought a moment. "Probably not."

And that was when the space bridge started up.

For a second, all combat stopped as they watched what appeared to be Megatron's victory.

Then the control panel and a couple of sections of the space bridge blew up.

"The heck? There shouldn't be anything in that section that can blow up!" complained Mixmaster.

"Uh, why is it still going?" asked Scrapper, pointing at the sphere of transwarp energy suspended between the prongs of the space bridge. There were now sparks and bolts of electricity running across the sphere, which was well known by anyone with common sense to be a very bad sign.

Bulkhead took advantage of the distraction to run over to the Autobots. "Guys!"

Silverbolt grunted a greeting. "Bit busy," ground out Kup as he dodged another attack from Strika.

So Bulkhead swung his wrecking ball at Blackout. It didn't do any damage, but it did get his attention so that the others had less to deal with.

An arrow shot out from the tunnel, heading straight for Megatron. Megatron easily caught it.

"Darn it," muttered Rodimus.

"Will you give us a hand?!" shouted Kup.

And then the ceiling exploded and everyone was having to dodge rocks falling from the ceiling.

Now the sky was clearly, visible, along with several seekers. Starscream smirked. "Did you miss me?"

Megatron face palmed. Starscream had the worst timing.

"Hey, we removed the power source from the space bridge," said Mixmaster.

Megatron glanced at the space bridge, which was still going. "Really?"

"I think the excess power that we redirected to storage units is powering it," explained Scrapper. "It's gonna blow!"

"So we suggest everyone evacuates pronto," finished Mixmaster.

"Noted," deadpanned Megatron. _"Kill Starscream and the Autobots and then evacuate."_

At this point things were just going crazy and it was getting next to impossible to keep track of what was going on.

Starscream immediately went after Megatron. Megatron dodged the shots. "You'll have to do better than that."

Starscream's clones landed around the cavern. The cowardly clone realized a second later that he'd landed next to Cyclonus and Silverbolt, who were still fighting. He let out a squeak that caught their attention. He held up his servos. "I surrender!"

Silverbolt and Cyclonus stared. Then they exchanged looks. "He reminds me too much of a scared child…" muttered Silverbolt.

Cyclonus grunted and took a couple of steps to get a closer look at the cowardly clone. The clone whimpered at the rather creepy aura Cyclonus was giving off. Then there was Cyclonus's stare, like he was being judged in every single way possible while Cyclonus was coming up with the best way to kill and disassemble the clone. And he was so over his head! Why was he even here? He didn't know a thing about fighting! Or anything! And everyone here was scary and he could be killed in so many ways and Cyclonus was still giving him that look.

The cowardly clone abruptly screamed.

*Crack!*

And then he just disappeared. Cyclonus raised an optic ridge before looking up at the sky. He must have seen something because he abruptly transformed and flew off.

Silverbolt just blinked at the odd occurrence before deciding to see if anyone needed help.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting out of here," said Mixmaster.

"I'm with ya," agreed Scrapper as they walked towards a tunnel.

The blue clone abruptly landed in front of them. "Neither of you inferior ground pounders will be going anywhere so long as I say so."

A few feet away, the green clone landed next to Oil Slick and Blurr. "Now, why are you two lovely mechs fighting when you could be doing much more pleasurable things?"

Both mechs did stop, but it was to give the green clone a look that clearly said 'What the **** is wrong with you?'. And that was when something gray impacted Blurr from behind and sent him flying into the green clone. Once they regained their bearings, they realized that a) the blue clone was stuck in the substance as well and b) the substance was cement that was somehow already dry and hard.

"Oops. Sorry 'bout that," said Mixmaster.

"Where'd you get that much cement?" asked Scrapper.

"No idea. Let's get out of here."

"But we didn't get paid."

"Oh yeah. We'll ask about it when we don't have to worry about an explosion."

Hot Shot was trying to sneak over to the humans. It seemed to be working so far. He'd made it to the ledge. "Are you guys okay?"

"Do we look okay?" snarked Masterson.

"Uh…Well, you look kind of dirty, but you don't look skinny," admitted Hot Shot. "What're you guys doing anyway?" It looked like they were trying to put together some sort of machine out of the scrap that was lying around the ledge.

"It's too dangerous to walk across the ground, so we're trying something else," explained Dr. White.

"I could carry you over to the tunnel," offered Hot Shot.

"No offense, but I'd prefer to wait until there aren't any projectiles flying around to try that."

The yellow and blue one suddenly appeared next to the ledge. "My humans!"

"Hey!" Fortunately, Hot Shot was able to grab the greedy clone's servo before he could grab the humans. "They don't belong to anyone!"

So the clone lashed at Hot Shot's chassis. "Mine!"

Hot Shot grabbed the injury but did shoot his flamethrower at the clones face. It didn't do much, but before the peeved clone attack again, Silverbolt grabbed and threw him into the cavern wall.

"Does anyone think there's something off about these Starscream look-a-likes?" asked Ironhide as he fired his blaster at the orange Starscream. It hit him on target.

"Your aim is impeccable as always I'm sure!" said the clone.

"Ow that hurt!" said the white clone when one of Wasp's electric stings hit him. It didn't slow him down at all.

"Clearly they have inherited their progenitor's insanity," said Icy Blitzwing, who was fighting Thrust. He switched to Random. "And I know crazy!"

"I could pull off a split personality so much better," muttered the dark red clone.

"You see?! Just as crazy as me!"

"This is so weird…" moaned Wasp.

"No it's not!" snapped his opponent.

Red Alert rolled her optics from where she was trying to keep the femme clone from getting close. "It is common for clones to have mental problems and extreme personalities."

"How come they have a medic, and we don't have a medic?" muttered the envious clone.

"Ooh good question!" Random jumped across the room, and punched at Red Alert. She attempted to block. Then the femme Starscream fired at Red Alert, forcing her to dodge. Then Random took advantage of her momentary distraction to drive his servo into her chest.

Red Alert's optics widened. Random jerked his servo. Red Alert went limp and her body turned gray.

"Red Alert!"

Then Blitzwing's shoulder suddenly exploded right before he was tackled by a furious T-Rex.

Back-up had finally arrived, but it was too late for Red Alert. Flareup decided to take on the femme clone. Snarl decided to help Rodimus and Brawn with Blackout. Sludge ran over to help Kup and Bulkhead with Lugnut and Strika. Slag was helping Grimlock with Blitzwing. Prowl noticed Oil Slick mixing something together and decided to interfere. Bumblebee gave Red Alert's body a horrified look. He gave Bulkhead a worried glance as well before deciding he wouldn't do any good in that fight and ran over to Hot Shot. _'You okay?'_

"I think so. It doesn't hurt very much," said Hot Shot. He smiled. "And look. Rad's father."

Dr. White paused. "You know Rad?"

"Yeah, we hang out."

"…My son is friends with giant, alien robots?"

"Yeah, we'll tell you all about it when we get out of here," said Hot Shot.

'_What are they doing?'_ asked Bumblebee.

"Building something that I think is supposed to help us I guess. They don't wanna run across the ground with us running around. And they're afraid of getting hit by a projectile," explained Hot Shot.

'_What's it supposed to do?'_

"I don't know. What is it supposed to do?"

"Shoot a giant chakram," said Penelope.

"Oh, what's a chakram?" asked Hot Shot.

"You're about to find out," said Masterson. "Steady…Steady…" Hot Shot and Bumblebee wisely got out of the way of the device, which they were moving a bit. "Fire!"

Raf hit a lever. The device spat out a disk that went flying towards Megatron and Starscream's fight.

Megatron somehow realized what was heading for them and dodged it while simultaneously putting Starscream in its path. The disk cut through Starscream's neck with a screeching sound that caught everyone's attention.

Starscream's body dropped to the ground, and Megatron found himself holding Starscream's head. "What the Pit was that?!"

Megatron twitched. "You're still alive?"

Starscream turned his head as much as he could towards the other fights going on. "Don't just stand there! Help me!"

His clones didn't move. The femme clone scoffed. "Any leader would be an improvement over you!"

Starscream's optics widened. "What?!"

"It seems your clones have inherited your treachery," deadpanned Megatron. Actually that femme clone seemed almost normal. "Why won't he die?"

"He has a shard of the Allspark embedded in his forehead," explained the femme clone, not caring a bit about her progenitor.

Before Megatron could try to remove the shard, he had to spin and block an attack from a growling Silverbolt. That seemed to be a signal for the fighting to resume. The only problem was that now the clones were helping the Decepticons.

"I think we just made things worse," noted Raf.

"Do we have another of those disk things?" asked Penelope.

"Not enough time or materials," answered Masterson.

'_I'm gonna go help Prowl,'_ said Bumblebee. Prowl was now fighting both Thrust and Oil Slick and looked like he could use some help.

Hot Shot looked around at the fights. It looked like everyone was holding their own just fine.

"Aren't you going to help?" asked Dr. White.

"I think I'll stay here."

"Why?"

"Well, I made a promise…I don't want to break it."

"We have got to figure out a way to take this guy down," grunted Brawn. He wasn't even making a dent on Blackout.

"I know," muttered Rodimus.

At this moment, Bumblebee managed to jab a stinger into Oil Slick's back and let loose the strongest electrical burst he had. Oil Slick jerked and dropped the canister he was holding, which rolled over towards the Rodimus/Brawn/Snarl/Blackout fight. Rodimus noticed it and a light bulb went off in his head. He grabbed the canister, jumped on the back of Blackout, and slammed the canister into Blackout's face.

Whatever Rodimus was expecting the canister to contain, it didn't. Instead it released a brown smoke that caused the two to start rusting up. Rodimus had just enough time for his optics to widen and mutter 'Oh slag' before the rust completely covered him and Blackout.

"Not good," said Snarl.

Brawn let out a curse. "Kup! We got a situation!"

"I'm busy!"

"Rodimus got covered by cosmic rust!"

"Still busy!"

"I got a vaccine!" shouted Wheeljack. "Just give me a moment to get over there!"

Meanwhile, the stasis cuffs that had been removed from Blackout were still on the ground. They had been kicked around and at this moment made their way to Megatron's stabilizing servos. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the stasis cuffs and slapped one around Silverbolt's arm when he got close.

Silverbolt collapsed.

Megatron drew back. For a hybrid, this thing was surprisingly strong. Had the circumstances been different, he might have made a decent Decepticon.

As it was, Megatron would need to make sure this beast was out of the way. His optics went to the still malfunctioning space bridge.

A massive shadow suddenly fell over everyone. The slowly looked up and saw a massive orange mech staring down at them. "Decepticons sighted."

"Looks like Ratchet and Sari got Omega Supreme running," commented Wheeljack.

"An Omega Sentinel?! Oh, of all the times for Blackout to malfunction-" swore Strika.

"Decepticons! Attack the Omega Sentinel!" commanded Megatron. Every flight capable bot, clones included, flew up to attack Omega Supreme…except for Megatron.

Megatron doubted they'd be able to do much against an Omega Sentinel, even one as injured as this. He would have to improvise, but how to get a bomb that could take out an Omega Sentinel?

Megatron's optics once more went to the space bridge. He ripped out the power diverter and looked around for an Allspark shard, but there were none nearby. The construction bots hadn't bothered to say where they put the shards when they removed them.

Then he remembered there was another nearby. Starscrream caught the look Megatron gave him. "You can't possibly be thinking of-" He was cut off as Megatron grabbed him and stuffed him into the energy container. It was incredibly satisfying.

The transwarp energy sphere suddenly pulsed and doubled in size and started sucking in anything that wasn't attached to the ground, forcing everyone to hold onto something or be pulled into the unstable transwarp energy

"What's going on?!" shouted Wheeljack.

"No one ever bothered to set any coordinates!" shouted Bulkhead as he shot a line around Rodimus and Blackout to keep them from flying off. "And I kind of snuck in a few grenades!"

Wheeljack suddenly realized he'd never retrieved the grenades he'd given to Bulkhead and Bumblebee. Oops. Oh well, it all worked out. He'd just have to hope that Ratchet never found out.

The cement containing two clones and Blurr suddenly went flying into the transwarp sphere.

Scrap. Hopefully Blurr would be able to survive the trip.

Megatron figured this would be enough to take out the Omega Sentinel. He turned towards the techno-organic annoyance…

And had a pair of stasis cuffs slapped onto his wrists.

Megatron stared at Silverbolt, who was no longer wearing the stasis cuffs and had somehow wrapped his grappling lines around stalagmites without him noticing. Silverbolt for his part, simply kicked at Megatron's chest, sending him flying into the sphere. Silverbolt then turned all his attention to keeping from being pulled into the sphere.

Omega Supreme had noticed the problem. "Dangerously high levels of transwarp energy detected."

"Scrap," said Ratchet. "We were too late."

"So, what will something like that do?" asked Sari.

"Worst case scenario: It continues to build until it explodes and takes out half the state."

"How we stop it?" asked Swoop.

"I don't know! I'm a medic not a transwarp engineer!"

"I will fix it," said Omega.

"You don't know how to fix it either," pointed out Ratchet.

"But I know how to stop it."

"What?" Omega stepped into the cavern and started curling around the transwarp energy. Ratchet's optics widened. "Omega! Don't you dare! You just came back! You can't-" Ratchet's protests were cut off as all the inhabitants in Omega's cockpit were suddenly ejected out.

Swoop immediately transformed and caught his mother and Ratchet and broke their fall as best as he could.

A blue glow completely covered Omega before there was a loud crack and he abruptly disappeared.

"What just happened?" asked Sari as she climbed to her feet.

"He absorbed the transwarp energy," realized Ratchet. He punched the ground. "Damn it! I just got him back! Why did he have to-"

"Hot Shot's not moving!" shouted Raf.

That got Ratchet's attention. He seemed to realize there were several injured Autobots in the cavern. He pushed his anger and sadness to the back of his processor and hurried over to Hot Shot. It appeared Hot Shot had curled around the human scientists to protect them from flying debris, but now he wasn't moving. "Hot Shot? Can you hear me?"

Hot Shot whimpered. Ratchet carefully peeled him off the rock and frowned when he saw energon leaking out of Hot Shot's mouth. He started to run a scan.

Hot Shot abruptly fell still and started to gray.

Ratchet winced and carefully lay Hot Shot's body on the ground. There was nothing more that could be done for him. Ratchet needed to focus on the living now.

While Ratchet was examining Rodimus and Blackout and seeing how much damage the cosmic rust had done, Bulkhead finally was free to talk to his friends. "You came for me!" Bulkhead enveloped Bumblebee, Flareup, and Wheeljack in a big hug. "I knew you'd come!"

"Too tight!" gasped Flareup.

"Oh, sorry." Bulkhead quickly put them down. "I'm just so happy to see you guys are all all right!"

"Not everyone's all right," muttered Wheeljack, glancing at Red Alert.

Bulkhead winced. "Yeah…" And Bulkhead understood that it had been less about rescuing him and the human scientists and more about keeping space bridge technology away from Decepticons and arresting them. That was okay though because his friends had come for him. Speaking of which… "Are you okay Bumblebee? You're being kind of quiet."

Bumblebee had been shifting nervously since the battle ended. He paused, thought for a moment, and sighed. _'I can't talk.'_

Bulkhead blinked at the text that appeared in his optics. "I didn't know you had a texting program."

'_I do now.'_

"I thought the only bots with that were…" Bulkhead trailed off and his optics widened. "Oh…"

'_Yeah…'_

"But…when did this happen?"

'_When you got kidnapped.'_

"What?! But-But-Why?!"

Bumblebee shrugged. Prowl and Silverbolt had never tried to ask Lockdown. Given Lockdown's record, the most likely reason was that he just didn't want Bumblebee to alert anyone due to the number of mechs in the base and how hard it was to move Bulkhead. _'It's not your fault.'_

"But if we hadn't been rooming together, that wouldn't have happened!"

'_Yeah. Probably. I'd still have roomed with you though.'_

"Oh Bumblebee…" Bulkhead couldn't think of anything to say. He decided to just go back to hugging Bumblebee.

"Well, glad to see there are no hard feelings there," commented Flareup.

Wheeljack nodded. "Yeah…" He glanced to the other group. "Wish I could say the same for everyone else."

Flareup followed his gaze and saw Wasp, Ironhide, Brawn, and Kup gathered around Red Alert's body. "I can't believe she's gone. It happened so fast. If we'd just started a little sooner…"

"I'm going to give you kids a piece of advice," said Wheeljack. "Never ask 'What if?'. That way leads to nothing but depression and hate."

"I can't believe she's gone," said Ironhide, staring at Red Alert's body. He didn't want to stare, but he couldn't seem to avert his optics.

"Half our squad got deactivated," muttered Wasp.

"A third," corrected Brawn. "Ratchet wouldn't be paying Rodimus so much attention if he wasn't still alive."

"What's the difference?" snapped Wasp. "Rodimus isn't gonna be up anytime soon! He'll get shipped back to Cybertron!"

"He'll recover and eventually be walking around on his own," said Kup. "That's the difference, and don't you forget it."

Prowl walked over to his…family? Surrogate kids? Charges? Prowl didn't even know what to think of them anymore. "You're all okay?"

Silverbolt finished retracting a grappling line into his arm. "I assume that if there were any outstanding injuries, Ratchet would be examining us. I believe we are fine except for relatively minor injuries."

Swoop nodded. "We okay."

Prowl nodded and directed his attention to Sari. "You got Omega running again?"

Sari nodded. "Yeah."

"You didn't try it with Hot Shot and Red Alert though."

Sari frowned and glanced at the two. "I don't think so. Omega was…not gone. These two feel…gone."

Prowl nodded in understanding. "I see."

"What happen to him?" asked Grimlock, pointing at Oil Slick, whose grayed out body had been dragged over by Prowl.

"He collapsed after Bumblebee hit him with an electric shock," explained Prowl, who was well aware of the irony that the one Decepticon death in the battle had been caused by Bumblebee of all bots. "I supposed he'd be brought back with everyone else."

At that moment, Silverbolt turned to the humans. "Would you like to come down?"

"Yes please," breathed Penelope.

Silverbolt patiently waited for them all to climb on. Then he placed them on the ground a decent distance from Hot Shot's body.

Raf was staring at Hot Shot in shock. "You can _die_."

"Yes we can," agreed Silverbolt.

"What're you going to do now?" asked Raf.

Silverbolt looked around at the destruction, the deceased, the mourners…He sighed. "Let's just go home. We can decide what to do afterwards."

Space:

Floating in space among space bridge debris were Megatron, still stasis-cuffed, and Starscream, still lacking a body.

For once, Megatron was the one to break the silence. "Stop staring at me," he ground out.

"No. _You_ stop staring at _me_!" countered Starscream.

"Do you think I actually _want_ to spend the rest of eternity gazing at your unsightly visage?"

"Trust me: Your visage is no picnic either. And your face is ugly too!"

Megatron groaned at the stupidity of that statement. "Oh someone just take me offline now…"

"What do you think I've been trying to do for the past four million stellar cycles?!" questioned Starscream. Then he started cackling for seemingly no reason. "It's funny, really, when you think about it. Tragic, but funny!" He went off cackling again.

Megatron ground his denta together at the annoying sound. "Oh, shut up…"

_And now Butterflies presents: The Afterword._

"That last part was taken from the original timeline because it was too funny to leave out," said KHGiggle.

"And with that disclaimer out of the way, we can move on to our regularly scheduled program," commented Vector.

"Like the Starscream clones! Am I the only who's reminded of the homunculi from FMA?" For some reason that caused Vector to burst into laughter. KHGiggle gave him a surprised and shocked look. "You're laughing. You've never laughed before. Why are you laughing?"

"You're closer to the truth than you think," explained Vector with a few chuckles. "I'll explain later."

"Why not now?"

"Because it will take several hours."

"Okay, any problems?"

"There were several deaths in this chapter," noted Vector.

"It's war. People die, including people you like."

"I'm aware of that, but I noticed that more Autobots died than Decepticons."

"Well, the Decepticons are war machines, right? So I figured that if they were facing off against less experienced bots they were less likely to get injured and killed."

Vector nodded. "Sound logic. And the knowledge about sign language?"

"Well, I've only got a rudimentary knowledge of sign language. I know you got signs for letters and signs for words. I think I remember reading once that you make up signs for names of people you know. Silverbolt…He picked it up from a self-taught human so his knowledge is also rudimentary. If anyone out there knows sign language, I would appreciate you pointing out any mistakes I made."

"And the next season will probably take longer to get out," said KHGiggle. "I've barely started on it, and while I know where I want to go, I'm still working on how to get there. Plus I have a real job now."

"A shame really. I could have used a more permanent assistant."

"I may be posting drabbles that have to do with Butterflies though," continued KHGiggle. "Depending on if I can finish writing them and have the time. They're mostly backstory or scenes I couldn't fit into the main story. So if you're interested keep an eye out for them."

"And finally…Thank you for all your reviews and views! You people are all wonderful! I can't wait to see what you think of the next season I'm working on!"

_This has been The Afterword._


End file.
